Life, Love and Loss
by Dr Dragon Mistress
Summary: A young woman fights her way into the musketeers gaze and to the instantly sparks a connection with Athos, but Athos cannot get over Anne de Breuil's betrayal and to make things more complicated he is still married to her. As their relationship develops Catherine learns that the complexities involved in love and mean that life cannot give you what you always want.
1. Chapter 1- The Letter

I do not own the Musketeers, the character portrayals belong to Alexandre Dumas and the BBC.

Athos, Aramis, Porthos and d'Artagnan stood behind Captain Treville on the left hand side of the two golden thrones the left one occupied by the King. Two manservants dressed in gold stood behind the thrones their impassive faces mirroring those of the guards on the door. King Louis XIII drummed his fingers on the arm rest effectively marking out his boredom. As the King he was neither accustomed to being kept waiting nor patient enough to hide his evident frustration, even when the person keeping him waiting was his pregnant wife. Anne was far enough along that she was beginning to show and her dresses had gradually assumed a looser corset to accommodate. While it was clear she was thoroughly basking in her respective motherhood, something Louis himself had been impatient for, she had been exercising her husband's renewed adoration a little too far recently.

'Are women always like this?' Louis' question was clearly directed at Treville and to none of the milling nobles at the back of the room.

'Its to be expected Sire, her majesty does now have to be more cautious.' Treville's frank reply never seemed to startle Louis who knew only too well that Treville favoured truth above pandering.

'Yes but its been ten minutes where can she be?' Louis sulked.

'Patience is a virtue Sire.'

At Treville's last words the doors opened and in came the Queen smiling freely at the nobles who bowed and moved aside to let her pass. As customary behind the Queen came her ladies. What was not so customary was that instead of the usual two ladies who waited on the Queen's orders, there was in fact now four. The closest following pair were Anne's usual ladies but behind them followed the new two. D'Artagnan smiled as Constance Bonacieux shot him a small smile, while evidently trying not make her delight at seeing him noticeable. Porthos nudged him 'Stop making it so obvious will ya.' D'Artagnan just grinned in return. Aramis was smiling cautiously too. Only he, Athos and the Queen herself knew the truth of the pregnancy. The Cardinal certainly had his suspicions but since he was fully aware of Anne's influence over the King he seemed to favour keeping those suspicions to himself.

The fourth lady was also new and unknown to the musketeers. The woman did not appear to merit much attention excepting for her unusually pale complexion and hip long dark brown hair which contrary to tradition she left loose rather than pinned.

The Queen sat down on the throne beside the King who leaned over and kissed her offered hand. Pregnancy had given Anne's opinions and counsel more weight in recent weeks. Were she once would never have been sought to attend casual business meetings she now found that Louis wanted her there. As her gaze drifted across those in the room it momentarily lingered on Aramis just long enough to tell the musketeer that he had not been entirely forgotten.

'Well shall we begin then?' Louis clapped his hands together. The first man stepped forwards, le Comte de Rochefort. He bowed before the monarch's gracefully but there was an air of slight sarcasm to his actions.

'Might I first offer my congratulations to her majesty on this happy occasion.' It was a standard statement not a question. Anne smiled in reply. Rochefort then turned to Louis. 'Your majesty I have come to report to you that the peasantry of my lands are complaining about the recent taxes the Cardinal has imposed.'

'Do they ever do anything else.' Louis grumbled and Treville sighed. Louis for all his charming noble pursuits was not adept at maintaining royal diplomacy.

'What do you want Comte?' Louis asked eventually.

'Merely to seek your majesties permission to extract the taxes by any means necessary.' Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d'Artagnan shared knowing glance and Constance's face twisted in a brief moment of disgust.

'Well, we must collect our taxes somehow!' Came Louis' reply. Rochefort, who seemed to take that as an affirmative, smiled like a shark, bowed and retreated to the back of the room allowing the next noble to seek the Queen and King's advice.

'Well there's another smarmy one.' Porthos muttered to Athos.

'His father was a brutal man as well.' Aramis added. 'There's rumours that he has dealings with the English.'

'It won't amount to anything.' Athos reassured. 'His father bled the region dry and lost his head for it. Rochefort is not that ignorant.'

D'Artagnan wasn't listening so much as trying to have a silent conversation with Constance. The new lady who stood on Constance's right picked up on the reciprocation between the two out of the corner of her eye and inwardly smiled. She knew Constance was kind but she also noticed that she carried a confidence in her body carriage that alluded to a frequent exposure to danger. Seeing the conversation between her and the musketeer seemed to answer that question at least. The lady allowed her assessing gaze to pass over the four musketeers and their Captain. They were all handsome in their way she noted but the man on the far right with unkempt dark hair and a melancholy, disinterested disposition caught her eye. Her gaze lingered on his features for a moment before she turned her attention back to the current conversation in hand.

The morning dragged on and eventually with the chiming of the bells to signify lunch, Louis and Anne rose respectively and moved towards the doors. The ladies followed their mistress in the same order they had entered, passing the bowing musketeers and nobles. Constance gave d'Artagnan another discreet smile as they passed which he returned before they passed out onto the terrace where the servants had laid out a beautiful lunch. The lunch for Anne's ladies in waiting was not served at the same long table but at a separate one just to the side. Constance and Catherine took their seats while the other two ladies ensured that their mistress had everything she needed before joining them. The seating choices of the ladies spoke volumes. Both Constance and Catherine were new to the Queen's service, appointed not a week apart from each other, and as such both of them struck up an amiable friendship. The other two ladies who had long served the Queen did not particularly dislike the newcomers but they maintained their distance clearly viewing them as inferiors.

As lunch proceeded Catherine noticed that Captain Treville had taken the end seat of the long table while the four musketeers stood at the opposite side in a parade line. She also noticed d'Artagnan was trying to catch Constance's eye's again and nudged her companion.

'You should probably tell him to stop making it look so obvious,' she murmured. 'I fail to see how the whole court does not know about you two the way he acts.' Constance blushed in her turn but it was clear the other two ladies had not heard what had been said.

Dinner came and went quickly and soon, despite being under the canvas cover, Anne wished to retire to her rooms. Her and all four ladies departed back to the palace. As they stepped inside the Queen's apartments Anne sat down at her dressing table and Catherine stepped forward to remove the Queen's daytime jewels. As she did so she noticed the Queen's melancholy expression and prudently asked if she was well. She hesitated before trying to give an answer but even when she tried her voice failed. Catherine watched as Anne glanced at her with a scrutinising gaze and shifted a little sensing she was being weighed up. Appearing satisfied the Queen took a piece of paper and a quill from her drawer and scribbled something down, her hand covering that which she wrote. She folded the paper and sealed it quickly. Then she turned around to check on her other ladies, the first two were in the process of choosing the Queen's afternoon gown and Constance was folding the bed linens for washing. Anne turned to face the mirror but held the piece of paper in her hand at her side.

'Take this to Aramis of the King's musketeers.' She instructed quietly. 'It is for his hand and no-one else's do you understand me.'

Composing her expression of surprise, with moderate difficulty, Catherine extracted the letter from the Queen's hand and nodded.

'Go now.' Anne said. 'And remember, no-one else.'

As she walked through the palace Catherine slipped the note up her sleeve so it looked like she was carrying nothing. She maintained a disinterested expression but her mind sparked with curiosity. Why out of her most trusted ladies had she just chosen her, a woman who had been less than a month in her service, to deliver this? Clearly it was secret, clearly it contained some scandal or else it would not need to be conveyed this way. Catherine was well aware that Anne had two dispatches, one which passed through the Cardinal and another for more private correspondence which she transmitted through the two main ladies. Thinking back to how the Queen had scrutinised her, Catherine sensed that whatever was in the letter Anne was banking on the fact that even if she did open it she would not understand what it contained.

Her thoughts continued as she requested a horse from the royal stables. She was used to walking everywhere but since entering into her majesties service she had to get used to the idea that such an action was no longer acceptable. Not that she minded too much about the horses for she loved riding and caring for them, but carriage's made her feel sick with their rocking motion and uncomfortable seating.

Catherine was accustomed to Paris but it took a couple of stops on the journey to ask what looked like trustworthy people where the musketeers garrison actually was. She stopped just beyond the entrance and dismounted. Inside she could hear raucous laughter coming from a long table where a group of men were sat. She approached and stood just in the shadowed archway pausing to examine if any of them resembled those she had seen earlier. Unfortunately none did. She was just about to take a step inside the garrison when she caught the conversation.

'So Henry what does your mistress think to your new job? Does she approve?'

'Quite so,' replied the young man whom Catherine assumed was a trainee since he didn't appear to be wearing the pauldron and looked very young. 'In fact she wants me to teach her to fight.'

'What?!' Laughed two of the men sat nearest to him. They clearly were rambunctious and enjoying their wine but Catherine's nerves sharpened at the idea that women were deemed ridiculous for wanting to fight.

'Listen lad, here's a useful piece of advice for you. You don't ever want to teach a woman to fight as good as you can.'

'And why not?' Came an unexpected female voice from the shadows.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Duel

Chapter 2 - The Duel.

I do not own any of the characters, except for OC, the rights belong to Alexandre Dumas and the BBC.

The group of musketeers glanced up and silence descended all around the table. The musketeer who had spoken did not quite know how to respond to the unknown woman who stood in the entrance to the garrison half hidden in shadow. For an awkward moment no-one said a word. The musketeer who had spoken then seemed to gather his wits.

'I advised my young friend that he probably should not train his mistress to fight as well as he does.'

'Why?' Came the simple, cold reply.

'Because women are feisty enough without wielding a pistol and a sword!' His companion half-joked.

'Really?' Catherine raised an eyebrow.

'Might I inquire as to why you have come my Lady?' Captain Treville's voice rang out from the balcony above.

'I am looking for Monsieur Aramis, is he here?' Catherine replied turning her gaze to the Captain.

'Why do you need to see him? Have their majesties sent word?' She was beginning to understand why this man was the Captain of the musketeers, he clearly didn't miss a trick.

'I was sent to find him by one of the ladies at court.' It was not a complete lie, the Queen was after all still a woman at court.

'For what purpose?' Treville's eyes narrowed.

'I believe she has a matter she wishes to communicate to him.' She replied choosing her words carefully.

'What is this message?'

'It would surely be imprudent sir, if I were to communicate to you out loud the personal wishes of another lady!'

Treville sighed. 'Aramis is not here at the moment.'

'Then I will come back later.' Catherine, who had weighed up the risk of being absent for the rest of the afternoon versus not carrying out the Queen's orders on the journey to the garrison, decided the first option was the more preferable.

'As you please mademoiselle.' Treville turned and disappeared back into his office.

Catherine turned on her heel and began walking back towards her horse outside the garrison when the musketeer muttered to his friends 'what use would teaching her be women can't fight anyway.'

Catherine stopped and turned.

'I beg to differ, sir.'

The musketeers looked at her and burst out into raucous laughter. Not willing to back down so easily Catherine looked around and spotted a sword lent up against a wooden post near the stables. She moved towards it and drew it from its sheath turning to point it towards the musketeer who had spoken. They continued laughing but seemed to become more edgy.

'Draw your sword sir!'

The laughter died down.

'Pardon?' The musketeer was looking at her with remarkable surprise.

'Draw your sword! You made a remark sir, now defend it. Is that not what _honourable_ men do.'

There was deadly quiet. None of the men quite knew how to react at the spectacle of a woman in a floor length silk dress standing _en garde _pointing a sword at their comrade.

'I am a musketeer. I do not draw my sword to woman.' The musketeer said bluntly.

'But you would fight an equal. I can wield a sword adequately, do you not wish to prove your point.' Catherine said coldly not taking her eyes off the man who looked at her with incredulity.

There was a pause and then the musketeer turned his back to her dismissing the idea. Annoyed Catherine moved herself forward enough to allow the tip of the sword to poke between the man's shoulder blades. He tensed.

'Will you not defend yourself?'

A moment's pause and then in the space of a split second the man was on his feet facing her sword drawn. Much to his surprise instead of flinching Catherine merely stepped back a step and drew herself up to full height. The man gave a light parry only to find that the woman in front of him was indeed very much capable of the basics.

Then it was Catherine's turn to go on the offence. He deflected her blows as easily as she expected but she wasn't interested in showing off just yet. She had always been taught to move cautiously first, learn details about your opponent such as what foot they favoured, what stances they favoured, were they strong, agile, flexible? Taking the situation more seriously the musketeer moved on the offence again. He began putting more strength into his blows and forcing Catherine to block behind as well as the front. Spinning around to block a blow aimed behind her shoulder she then forced the musketeer onto the defence instead.

By now the sounds of swords and jeers from the group of musketeers on the table had brought out more of the men from their lodgings to watch the show. As Catherine leaped with agility to one side to avoid another blow she struck out with the sword and through sheer speed managed to cut the musketeer's right arm. It was a mere scratch and a lucky cut but she noticed that some of the onlookers nodded their approval and others began cheering.

Hearing the commotion Treville stepped out of his office onto the balcony only to be greeted by one of the strangest sights he'd seen in his career. A young woman duelling a musketeer in yard below even more alarming he realised was that she had enough ability to hold her own.

Treville was not the only one to notice this. The musketeer, now sporting a scratch on his arm and being jeered on by his comrades, had put aside his courteous behaviour of earlier and was now attacking with a lot more vigour. Catherine too was increasingly putting more and more effort into her parries, the long dress and corset were not helping either. Now to busy focusing on the man in front of her she did not notice the four men on horseback who entered the garrison with astonished looks. Porthos and D'Artagnan looked confused, Aramis grinned while Athos' eyebrows rose high enough to disappear beneath the rim of his hat.

'Well gentlemen we're gone for five minutes and now look we're missing all the action!' Aramis remarked.

'I know her,' D'Artagnan replied. 'She's the new lady in waiting to the Queen that Constance was telling me about.'

'Bet she didn't tell you about this,' Porthos chuckled watching as Catherine ducked a blow to the throat nearly slicing the musketeer's shins in the process. 'Looks like she might even win here!'

'No chance, Davide is one of the best in the regiment.' D'Artagnan muttered.

'Ah D'Artagnan you have a lot to learn about women.' Aramis chuckled causing the youngest musketeer to fix him with a pointed look.

'What do you make of it Athos?' Aramis asked, tipping his hat cheekily to D'Artagnan.

'It is clear,' replied the eldest musketeer after a moments pause 'that she has received some sort of training.'

'Athos,' Aramis stated 'a lady in waiting to the Queen is duelling and keeping up with a musketeer and all you can think about is the training.'

In the midst of the cries and cheers Catherine was tiring and was almost ready to concede defeat when she spotted that the musketeer had remained on his right leg throughout the whole fight. 'He clearly favours the right side,' she thought. 'If I can get him on the left leg he might trip.' Blocking an overhead blow she seized the moment and danced around him and the musketeer naturally span round to meet her, but half way round she suddenly jumped back around. To prevent the blow she had aimed at his shoulder the musketeer was forced to alter his stance and place his left leg in front. Catherine drove forward on an offensive parry and as she predicted the musketeer slipped backwards unbalanced and crashed onto his back. Before he could get up she brought her foot down on his arm preventing him raising his sword to her and pointed hers down at his neck.

'Surrender?' she asked breathlessly.

The man just looked at her in pure shock.

'Surrender?' she repeated more firmly.

The man nodded and threw his head back on the ground closing his eyes.

After a brief pause she backed off his arm and glanced around at the watching musketeers most of whom broke into applause and cheers. She smiled with relief. She had won the fight and against a musketeer no less.

The initial rapture did not last long. Regaining her breath and composure Catherine quickly noticed that the men at the table, the Captain and the four men who had arrived on horseback while she was duelling were watching her like hawks.

Sensing that perhaps this might be a good time to leave she made for the exit which was partially barred by Aramis and D'Artagnan. Before she reached the archway she paused and turned back to the man who was now being consoled and helped to his feet by his comrades.

'Next time you imply that a woman cannot fight as well as any man you might wish to consider this moment.'

Turning back on her heel she found the exit promptly blocked by the musketeers which she now recognized as those from the morning meeting.

'Not bad. Not bad at all.' The one in the frock coat with dark curly hair remarked more to the others than to her. 'Where in France does a lady learn to fight like that?'

Catherine did not particularly want to hang around and asked abruptly. 'One of you is Aramis correct?'

The man who had just spoken removed his hat and half bowed to her. Porthos elicited a chuckle.

'A letter for you.' Catherine stated pulling the paper given to her by the Queen out from the folds of her sleeve. Aramis reached down at took the letter held out to him. Glancing at the seal upon the wax his eyes widened considerably. He looked at her questioningly but she merely shrugged and darted round his and D'Artagnan's horses. She walked as quickly as possible without running and mounted her horse from the ground. Hastening into a trot she ignored the voice commanding her to 'stop there!' She had been absent from the palace long enough.


	3. Chapter 3 - Admonishment

Chapter 3 - Admonishment

First of all thank you to my reviewers. Secondly none of the characters except for OC belong to myself.

Aramis, Porthos, D'Artagnan and Athos had been sat at the long table musing over goblets of wine and listening to Treville's shouting for the last half an hour. Davide, Henry and the other musketeers, who had consoled their brother on his defeat, were receiving an apt dressing down from the Captain.

'What _were_ you thinking! Agreeing to duel a woman in the first place, let alone one of the Queen's ladies in waiting! Have you no brains, no honour any of you?' The Captain's angry voice sailed down to the four men sat below who grimaced for the sake of their friends. Treville did not often lose his temper and shout, his long years as a musketeer and subsequently as their Captain had considerably lengthened his patience line. All four men below had been surprised to hear his anger vented so loudly, the last time being the charade to get to Vadime and that had not been pretty.

'I don't care if she challenged you or the other way around, you should have controlled yourselves all of you!' Came the raised voice from above.

'Poor Davide,' Aramis muttered. He'd been strangely quiet since the afternoon events. After the girl had left he had dismounted and gone to his rooms before opening the letter. When he had finally joined them at the table the three brothers, seeing his outward expression, had thought it wise not to ask after its contents, at least not just yet.

'Yeah,' chimed Porthos. 'He's already having a bad time of it, its not everyday you get beaten by a woman.' He smiled a little at the last point.

The sound of footsteps along the above gangway signalled that Treville's onslaught was finished. The four men watched sympathetically at the musketeers who filed silently down the stairs looking at their boots. Treville leaned over the wooden rail and called down to them.

'You four my office now.'

'He looks happy,' Aramis sighed.

'Whatever he wants it can't be anything good.' D'Artagnan muttered downing the remaining contents of his glass and trudging up the stairs behind Athos.

'Shut the door please.' Treville motioned as they entered.

All four men stood in their usual line in front of the Captain's desk and waited for him to speak. Treville pondered a moment allowing him to organise his thoughts.

'What was in the letter the Queen's lady gave you?' He finally asked Aramis who shifted uncomfortably. They all knew that Treville only ever bothered himself in the personal affairs of his men when he felt there was something of importance he was not being told. Aramis had not thought of a reasonable excuse having not expected the Captain to pry, but luckily Athos stepped in to save him.

'It was a message from one of his female acquaintances at court, she wanted to know why he did not keep his promise to visit her the other day.'

Treville fixed Aramis with a glare. He knew the man's womanizing would someday lead to serious trouble. The four men had returned only late yesterday evening from Champagne after delivering a personal message from the King to its Duke. Athos' excuse was a sound one though since Treville could not dispute Aramis' conduct further seeing how he had at least placed his duty before his more private appointments. He knew there was more to the issue than there appeared but decided to let it go and moved onto his next request.

'Gentlemen I want you to keep an eye on the lady who has just left. If she is going to cause further trouble I need to know, try and get closer to her and see what you can find out.'

'Do we know anything about her already?' Athos inquired.

'Only that she goes by her first name, Catherine, and that she was appointed by the Queen in person despite having no noble connections,' Treville replied as he stood up. 'Might I suggest you start immediately, given what has just transpired I would prefer to make sure that she is not a potential spy and threat to their majesties.'

At the mention of her lack of noble background Aramis, Athos, Porthos and D'Artagnan looked at each other. It was unusual for the Queen to take on ladies who had not come from a noble lineage. Constance had only risen to the post through the services that her husband now rendered to the his Eminence, the Cardinal. The four men knew all too well that the Cardinal's recommendation for Constance was purely as a means to allow him to keep a closer eye on D'Artagnan and the musketeers in turn, something which initially caused D'Artagnan to oppose the appointment. He did not want Constance to get further involved in the Cardinal's scandal, which only the Cardinal, the Queen, the four men and their Captain were privy to, but he later had to admit that since he now saw more of Constance away from her husband's envious gaze it was not all bad news. As a rule the Queen's ladies were appointed from the daughters of noble families. It was the principle way that close connections between the royal family and favour with the noble families of France were maintained. For a woman to be appointed with no connections or prospects did appear a little out of the ordinary, particularly given the events that had just transpired.

Realising that Treville had dismissed them the four men filed out of the room leaving their Captain standing over his desk. Once the door was shut he closed his eyes and pressed his forefinger and thumb over his nose bridge like an overly tired parent. He hoped the four men had enough sense to make sure that the girl did not go around telling everyone that she had just defeated a musketeer.

'So,' asked Aramis once they had retired down the stairs 'who gets the honour then?'

'You?' Porthos gave Aramis a mock salute. 'After all you're the best with the ladies at court it seems.'

Aramis tipped his hat as a return gesture but shook his head. 'Thanks for the notion Porthos my old friend but alas I am already occupied.'

'I could try and get Constance to look into this,' D'Artagnan proposed.

'Hmm and of course this would have absolutely nothing to do with you getting to spend more time with her?' Porthos chuckled.

'Well women talk to each other don't they? She might disclose more to Constance than she would to any of us?' D'Artagnan protested.

'Hmm he has point.' Porthos said still chuckling but Aramis shook his head.

'You're too obvious D'Artagnan and besides Porthos is right you'd get distracted. The task is to get close to Catherine not Constance.' D'Artagnan opened his mouth to argue back when Aramis hastily added. 'Porthos what about yourself?'

'Oh I'm er, busy at the moment.' Replied Porthos scratching the side of his head and averting his eyes. Aramis and D'Artagnan raised their eyebrows. 'Ah Porthos, have you been pawning the cupboard again?' said Aramis feigning mock hurt at not having been informed of this new development.

'Possibly?' Porthos muttered. Aramis grinned at his friend's embarrassment while D'Artagnan shook his head in exasperation. Porthos was a great man but he really did need to improve on his cheating when gambling with the red guards.

'That leaves you Athos,' D'Artagnan said at length.

Athos fixed him with a glare that plainly said no.

'But the Captain's orders...' D'Artagnan prodded.

D'Artagnan knowingly had just played a good hand since he knew Athos would not refute, as a man of duty, following Treville's orders. Aramis and Porthos were now also looked at Athos expectantly. Avoiding their gazes Athos chose that moment to find something captivating at the bottom of his empty wine glass instead, but his companions were not about to give up so easily.

'Come on Athos, those handsome looks of yours finally have a chance to serve the greater good.' Aramis teased. Athos began to grind his teeth.

'Yeah be nice for you to have break,' Porthos shared a plotting smile at Aramis as he spoke.

'And she's good with a sword Athos,' said D'Artagnan. 'You never know she might even be good enough to beat you!' He fixed Athos with an adorably innocent look.

'See you two have something in common already.' Aramis said grandly.

Athos looked with exasperatedly at his three brothers who were all ganging up against him. For a moment he was tempted to point out his evident lack of interest in getting to know women since his wife Anne, or rather Milady, but he did not wish to drudge up painful memories for them all. So instead he closed his eyes, poured out another glass of wine and sighed rather loudly.

'That's settled it then!' Aramis clapped his hands together.

'Great now what's for dinner? I'm starving.' Porthos began looking for the cook. D'Artagnan smiled and Athos went back to his wine glass.

Catherine had continued to curse herself all the way back to the palace. Granted she had just won a fight and won it fairly but at what cost. She had undoubtedly drawn attention to herself and even worse, she thought, to the Queen's message which she had all but thrown at Aramis in front of garrison of packed musketeers and his four comrades in particular. As she dismounted and handed her reins to the stable boy the thought crossed her mind that the Queen might also have been expecting her to carry back a reply. She had been so concerned with getting out of the garrison to avoid further questions that she had neglected her duty as the Queen's trusted messenger!

The Queen, rather predictably, was not happy when Catherine told her she did not have a reply.

'Why were you so long?' she asked.

'Monsieur Aramis was not at the garrison when I arrived. I had to wait for him my lady.'

'Did you take a horse?' Anne asked.

'Yes your majesty.'

'Hmmm,' Anne murmured 'Did you take a fall?' She asked and Catherine blushed when she saw the Queen examining her dishevelled hair and skirts that were now covered in mud up to the knee.

'Not exactly my lady.' Came the quiet reply. Anne's eyebrows rose in a gesture for her to continue.

'I pulled up outside the garrison to dismount but jumped down into a patch of wet mud.' It was pathetic for an excuse since it had not rained in Paris for the best part of three weeks now but it was all Catherine could come up with.

The Queen's expression blatantly said she did not believe a word she had just been told but fortunately the bell sounded to announce the evening meal. Anne was dining with the King that night and so instead of prying for the truth she gestured to her principle two ladies and swept from her apartments leaving Catherine alone with Constance.

'So,' said Constance once she was sure the Queen was out of earshot. 'What really happened at the garrison then?'

Catherine grinned. 'Its a long story.'


	4. Chapter 4 - The Meeting

Chapter 4 - The Meeting

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. I hope it continues to meet your expectations. Again I own only the OC.

One week later.

The palace was abuzz with servants running all over carrying jugs of wine, platters of food, linens for the tables, spare chairs and small tables. The time had come again for the annual Autumn feté, the largest party thrown by the French King and Queen to which all manner of nobles and their families were invited. The feté was the grandest affair in Paris but at its heart it remained the occasion for rich to display themselves and seek favour with the King and Cardinal. For this reason the Queen had suggested to the King that in the morning the two monarchs should go on parade through Paris and distribute money to the poor and destitute. Initially, on the advice of the Cardinal, the King had dismissed the idea but when Anne pleaded that it could be more an occasion which he could use to show himself as a merciful ruler and demonstrate his magnanimity to the people, Louis gave in.

The new parade demanded that the monarchs and the Cardinal travel accompanied by a troop of musketeers. Treville had been sent orders yesterday morning to have his finest men ready for the task. Of course D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis were included amongst the finest men. Initially all four men had been looking forward to the afternoon off, the Autumn feté usually meant that while the musketeers had to accompany the King on the morning hunt, they were often dismissed for the rest of the day. Now with the parade due to take place in the morning the hunt would have to be moved to the afternoon instead. Melancholy amongst the men was soon appeased when Treville announced they would receive extra on their meagre wages as a compensation. Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan at least certainly brightened up. Athos would not complained about the arrangements either way, that was until Treville reminded them that the feté would be an excellent opportunity for them to start on their new mission. Subsequently Athos spent that night drinking as much wine as he could manage, an action which left him rather grateful for the bucket of ice cold water sitting on his window ledge that morning.

After shrugging into his leather jacket, pauldron and sky blue coat, Athos fixed his sword, charges and pistols to his belt and placed his hat on top of his sopping wet hair. Since he had overslept he found his three brothers, who had already gulped down breakfast, sat waiting on their horses below. Thankfully someone had had his horse Bazajet saddled and ready as well.

'Look its alive!' Porthos grinned broadly.

'Just in time Athos my friend,' Aramis smirked. 'D'Artagnan was getting very worried about you.'

'I was not!' D'Artagnan cried. Athos raised an eyebrow at him and Porthos and Aramis shared a smile at the youngest man's reaction. It was well known amongst the musketeers that D'Artagnan and Athos shared a close relationship since Athos had all but taken the role of D'Artagnan's father. The two men would never openly admit the depth of affection that they felt for each other, even under extreme duress, but this made Aramis and Porthos' jokes all the more fun.

Under the scrutiny of Athos and the giggles of Porthos and Aramis, D'Artagnan nudged his horse into a walk. 'Come on,' he said desperately trying to change the subject. 'We're going to be late if we don't get a move on.'

D'Artagnan soon realised that riding in front at least had the one advantage, neither of the three men who were chuckling behind him could see D'Artagnan's face get redder and redder as they rode towards the palace. One of these days, he thought as the gates opened, he was going to invest in a large hat.

Anne had commissioned two new loose summer dresses for the feté. For the morning carriage ride she chose to adorn the pink silk dress with silver brocade around the base and collar. Her two principle ladies, Annabelle and Marie, had two new gowns for the afternoon to evening party while Constance and Catherine had to make do with what they already had. Anne had intended that Annabelle and Marie would accompany her in the morning with Constance and Catherine serving alongside them for the evening and afternoon, but that morning Marie was taken ill and Catherine was selected to take her place. Consequently by nine o' clock she had found herself wearing the new lilac gown of her ill colleague sitting in side saddle behind the royal carriage. She sniffed a little in the morning air. While the gown she was wearing was beautiful it had clearly been chosen to suit the blonde complexion of Marie. Lilac was not Catherine's colour but she had to wear it as part of the Queen's entourage. Initially she had further worried that she would have to ride in the carriage but the first lady, Annabelle, had pointed out that the carriage only had room for the Queen, King and Cardinal, especially considering the Queen was pregnant. Thus Catherine and Annabelle were to ride behind the carriage which would have two musketeers in front and two behind.

At half past nine the musketeer guard had arrived, headed by Treville, and the three most powerful people in France ascended into the carriage.

'Right two of you go in front, two behind.' Treville directed D'Artagnan, Aramis, Porthos and Athos.

Aramis had spotted the two ladies who were riding behind the carriage and quickly devised that he and Porthos would go in front while D'Artagnan and Athos should go behind. As Athos and D'Artagnan steered their horses into position Athos soon found out why Aramis had been so quick to ensure he should follow behind. D'Artagnan took his horse behind Annabelle which left Athos no choice but to follow behind Catherine. As they fell into line he saw D'Artagnan grinning to himself and sighed.

Most of the parade went smoothly with no incident. The King and Queen waved out the carriage window while the ladies distributed the bags of money they had been given to the poor as they passed. The Cardinal maintained his sour expression.

As the parade passed Notre Dame there was a particularly rowdy group of men who were stood a little further forward than they should have been. As they came nearer Catherine spotted a young girl on her own with one thumb in her mouth and the other sheepishly waving. She, unfortunately, did not pay as much attention as she should have to the men who were standing next to the girl. Wanting to give some of the money to the little girl, Catherine momentarily looked down and took a bag of coins from her saddlebag. She realised too late her mistake as two of the men, ceased their drunken façade, lunged at her. One grabbed her legs the other grabbed her waist and together they dragged her off her saddle to the ground. Chaos broke out.

D'Artagnan and Athos simultaneously drew their swords, Treville hearing the commotion grabbed his pistol and ordered the carriage to carry on as fast as it could guarded by Porthos and Aramis, the comrades of the men who had grabbed Catherine also drew their pistols pointing them at the two musketeers and Annabelle.

'Move and she dies!' One of the assailants snarled.

'Let her go,' Athos said coolly.

'If you want money…' Annabelle trailed off as another one of the other men snarled and started towards her.

'D'Artagnan get her out of here!' Athos ordered.

'You're sure you've got this?' D'Artagnan hesitated. Seven men against two was doable, seven against one was less so, even with Athos' experience.

'Go!' Athos nodded.

D'Artagnan did not need telling again and urged his and Annabelle's horse into a trot. People were clamouring to get a look or get away but they soon moved aside to let them pass.

'I won't tell you again,' the man in front snarled to Athos. 'Leave now or she dies!'

'Or you can let her go and I won't kill you,' Athos remained calm.

Catherine was struggling against the grip of the two men who held her firm. The man on her left had taken his hand off his dagger in order to keep a tight grip. Almost without thinking she made a grab for the dagger and plunged it into the man's side. He screamed and let go of her but that still left the one on the right. As the man on the left fell, the dagger still embedded in his side, Catherine tried to wrench herself out of the second man's grip. She underestimated how strong the man was though and before she could get away she found another knife pressed to her throat.

'You'll pay for that you little whore,' the man snarled. Feeling the knife press into her throat Catherine stopped struggling. As the man began dragging her away through the crowds she just had time to look back and spot a man in a blue coat duelling with three other men before they all disappeared from view.

The man who had hold of her unwisely chose only to go a couple of streets before slamming her into a wall and placing his own knife to her throat.

'Get your hands off me!' Catherine snarled still struggling. Whatever the lunatic had planned she did not particularly wish to stick around and find out.

'You killed my friend, do you honestly think you're gonna get away with that?' The man growled in her ear.

'Perhaps you should have taken that as a warning,' she spat back at him. He laughed 'Oh I am going to enjoy this!'

'Somehow I doubt that.' Came a cool voice from behind. The man stiffened as he felt something sharp being pressured into his shoulder blades.

'I suggest you let her go.' The man paused as if thinking about the musketeer's suggestion and decided he was not going to give up so easily. Unfortunately he paused for slightly too long. Seeing the indecision in her assailant's eyes Catherine seized her opportunity and brought her knee upwards. The man's eyes widened in shock and pain before he doubled over with a cry. Now that the knife was no longer around Catherine's neck Athos seized his own chance grabbing the man around the shoulders and shoving him to the ground. He angled his sword so it pointed at the man's heart.

'What do we think?' he murmured. 'Have we learned our lesson?'

The man snarled and batted Athos' sword away pulling himself up and backing away. Athos' eyes followed him closely. The man put his hands slowly behind his back and Athos had no doubt what was coming next.

'Don't,' he advised. The man paid no attention, drew his dagger and lunged not for Athos but for Catherine. She stepped sideways along the wall but she need not have bothered. Athos' blade buried itself into the man's chest before he even managed to get within an arms length of her. He slumped to the ground without much ado.

Athos sighed, sheathed his sword and turned to Catherine who simply stared at the dead man.

'You might want to be more careful the next time you start handing out money.' Athos remarked dryly.

'Hello to you too,' Catherine muttered. Athos raised an eyebrow.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Return

Chapter 5 - The Return

Once again thank you very much to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. I own none of the characters except for the OC.

'We should get back to the palace,' Athos said. 'The Queen will be wondering where you are.'

'Do we still have horses?' Catherine asked. Being fair it was not an entirely stupid question. Paris was full of thieves and horses often fetched a good enough price to feed a poor family for a week when sold. Athos considered for a moment. His horse, Bazajet, would probably have been left alone since stealing a musketeer's dark black horse was not so easy to get away with. He was unsure about the horse that Catherine had been riding though. 'Well we won't know until we go back.' He said.

They walked back to the road in silence, the crowds were back to the daily business and so no-one paid them much attention. When they arrived as he predicted Athos saw Bazajet standing at the other side of the road munching some carelessly placed straw. Catherine's horse was nowhere to be seen.

'Hmm guess I'm walking back then,' Catherine joked.

Athos snorted.

'What?' Catherine demanded. 'Just because you might be accustomed to seeing the Queen's ladies riding everywhere does not give you the right to dismiss the idea of one walking on foot.'

'I wasn't judging you.' Athos replied after a moment.

Now it was Catherine's turn to snort.

They stood there for a moment and then Catherine turned on her heel and set off down the road. 'Where are you going now?' Athos called.

'Back to the palace obviously.' Athos shook his head. Clearly she was serious about walking back then.

'It will take longer walking.' He decided to point out the obvious.

'Nobody is making you walk,' she shouted back to him. 'If you wish to hurry back to your duties then by all means ride back!'

'Confound it girl,' Athos thought. He grabbed Bazajet's reins and set off down the street after her.

They arrived back at the palace around two in the afternoon. The royal guards were more than surprised when Catherine walked up to the gates on foot closely followed by a musketeer who, despite bringing a horse, was also followed on foot. Fortunately the guards let them pass without much fuss. Athos handed Bazajet over to one of the servants who came forward and then followed Catherine inside.

They walked side by side in companionable silence until Catherine stopped at a door and turned to look at Athos. When he gave her a puzzled look to ask why they had stopped outside a door she grinned at him.

'I think I should clean up before joining the party outside,' she said.

Athos continued to look at her.

'You've done me a great service by accompanying me all the way back to the palace,' Catherine said slowly, as if talking to someone hard of hearing, 'but I do not think you need to accompany me into my bedroom unless, of course, you feel I would benefit from further assistance.'

Athos ducked his head, trying to hide the fact that his face was rapidly turning a deep scarlet. 'Is he blushing?' Catherine laughed to herself.

'Right..well…er… no, no I'll go and report back to Treville.'

She nodded at him still smiling. 'Well I'll see you outside then.'

'Yes.' Athos nodded pertly and then left.

'Honestly you did not need to do that,' Catherine scolded herself as she shut the bedroom door 'he could not he get away any quicker if he tried,'

'Where is she?' Treville asked Athos when he saw him coming down the steps onto the lawns.

'Getting changed,' Athos replied flicking his coat sleeve over his shoulder. 'She'll rejoin the Queen's party soon.'

'Is she ok?'

'I would say so.' Athos nodded.

'Remember the King is going hunting in half an hour and you're all expected to accompany him,' Treville called as he walked back to rejoin the King and Queen under the pavilion.

'So,' Came the familiar voice of Aramis behind Athos. 'How did it go?'

'Fine.'

'Just fine?' Aramis asked.

'Yes.' Athos repeated.

Aramis shook his head and patted Athos on the shoulder. 'Remember you only need to find out more about her. No-one is asking you to fall in love.'

'Thanks for the reminder.' Athos grunted and walked away.

Considering Marie's new dress was truly ruined and Catherine did not posses another new dress herself, she changed back into her usual cream afternoon dress. After straightening out her hair and washing her face she went outside to report to the Queen.

Athos, who had been doing his best to remain as distanced from the festivities as possible, spotted her as she came down the steps towards the pavilion. He had maintained a disinterested expression at the indulgent entourage since his report to Treville but had kept one eye on the door to the gardens. As soon as he spotted Catherine walking down the steps he felt himself relaxing a little more. His sharp eyes followed her movements and, as she passed through the crowds of people towards the Queen, he found himself absentmindedly moving around the fringes to keep her in his sight. Had he have been paying a little more attention to his surroundings Athos would have noted he was not the only one staring. The Queen, on spotting her lost lady, had smiled as she saw her emerging from the chattering nobles and she was not the only one, another man's eyes followed her equally as closely as Athos'. The man was le Comte de Rochefort.

Catherine stopped before the King and Queen and curtsied. Anne gestured for her to rise and she did so waiting for the inevitable questions.

'I see you have returned safely.'

'Yes your majesty.'

'Are you well?' Anne asked nervously she had spotted the change of clothing and became slightly alarmed.

'I am pleased to report that I appear to have fared a lot better than Marie's new dress,' Catherine stated before remembering she was addressing the Queen in the presence of the King and Cardinal and quickly adding 'my Lady.'

Louis paid her no attention whatsoever, the Cardinal merely sniffed while Treville scrutinised her as if checking to see she was telling the truth.

'What happened?' The Queen asked.

'A group of men tried to take the money I was distributing and attacked when I was not looking,' Catherine said simply. 'I was careless, it was my own fault your majesty.'

'Did they hurt you?' Now it was Treville who spoke out.

'No, Captain. But I believe I have your musketeer guard to thank for that.' Catherine said smiling at him. Anne looked at Treville expectantly.

'Athos is one of the best man in the regiment he stayed behind to help.' Treville explained to the Queen.

'And where is this Athos now?' Anne asked.

Both Treville and Catherine scoured the crowds but Treville's gaze found Athos first. He motioned for him to come forwards and Athos obeyed. As Athos came under the shade of the pavilion he removed his hat and bowed to the King, who was now paying attention, and the Queen.

Up close and without the hat Catherine could now make out Athos' features more clearly. His dark unkempt hair and beard gave him a handsome countenance she thought. His eyes were an azure blue and his skin, while still young, betrayed that he was probably in his early to mid thirties. Giving some consideration to his stance, voice and physique Catherine began to wonder whether Athos was a nobleman of some position. 'But then if he were, why would he be a musketeer?' she pondered.

Lost in her train of thought Catherine somewhat fell out of the conversation which Athos, the Queen and the King seemed to be having, only to be jerked back to reality when she heard her name mentioned.

For a moment she pondered who had spoken, Athos, Treville or the Queen. All were looking at her expectantly and she cursed herself for not getting so distracted.

'Pardon me,' she said looking at the Queen and sending up a silent prayer that she had it right. 'I lost concentration.'

'Athos was wondering if you would like some company while the King goes hunting?'

'Way to get that one wrong,' Catherine cursed to herself. Even worse she could feel Athos' eyes staring at her which only increased her embarrassment. 'Ok calm down, get a grip you need to reply,' she told herself.

'If it would not be an inconvenience to him then I have no objection.' She finally managed to speak while still avoiding looking at the man in question.

'I should be honoured.' Athos' soft voice replied. Catherine coloured so profusely at his words she could feel her cheeks burning.

'Are you ok?' The King asked causing her to jump. 'You look like you have some terrible fever.'

'What I would not give for the ground to just swallow me right now,' Catherine's mind begged.

As if sensing her discomfort the Queen spoke up. 'Would you be so kind as to fetch my cloak?'

'What on earth do you need that for?' Louis asked her. 'Its so hot out here, are you ill as well?'

'No but I thought I might use it to keep the baby warm.' Anne replied. Everyone saw through her excuse, everyone it seemed apart from Louis who nodded and told Catherine promptly to fetch the cloak. Nodding gratefully to the Queen, Catherine hurried away back to the palace.

After slamming the door to the Queen's bedchamber Catherine promptly slid onto the ground and let her head fall against the door.

'For goodness sake get a grip.' She said to herself. 'Yes he's… handsome and yes he helped save your life, but you really cannot go around behaving like this!'

She sat on the floor for a few minutes, allowing the heat to subside from her cheeks, and then gathered up the Queen's cloak from the closet and stepped outside the room again. As she turned around, having shut the door, she walked right into someone.

'Are you always this clumsy?' The man grunted. Catherine stepped back and looked up to find a disgruntled Athos lent against the door.

'You followed me back here!' She started.

'I said I would accompany you.' He stated simply.

'Yes but… oh never mind,' Catherine tried and failed to come up with a smart reply. Then a horrific thought crossed her mind. 'How long had he been stood there? Did he hear what she had said behind the door?'

'Should you not go and give that to the Queen?' Athos said smoothly.

'Erm yes, I probably should,' Catherine muttered and set of at a rapid walk down the hall. Athos grinned, shook his head and then followed her. He had, of course, heard every word she said.


	6. Chapter 6 - Interrogations

Chapter 6 - Interrogation.

Hi everyone, thank you to those who are continuing to review and follow this story. I hope you will not be disappointed! Again, apart from the OC, I own none of the characters.

As Catherine descended down the garden steps towards the pavilion she saw that the horses had been brought and the King's hunting party were ready to move off. She was acutely aware of Athos' presence behind her and was surprised at how much security she felt with him so close. Trusting a man she had only seen twice and barely spoken too was not something she was in the habit of doing. First impressions, she found, were helpful but not always reliable- experience had taught her that much at least. As the horn sounded and the King trotted off the musketeer guard and accompanying nobles followed. Catherine did not miss the fact that Athos' three companions were travelling just behind the King nor did she miss the way that all three men stared at her and Athos as they trotted on. 'Was that because of the duel?' she wondered feeling her skin prickle.

Anne smiled at Catherine as she handed the garment over to her, now the King was gone there really was no need to keep the ruse going but, since the Queen was feeling indulgent, she placed the garment across her gradually expanding abdomen.

'Would you like anything else your majesty?' Catherine asked.

The Queen shook her head. 'Annabelle will attend to anything else that might arise, go and enjoy the festivities,' Anne motioned.

Catherine bowed and turned away. She saw Athos standing with his hat in his hands at the edge of the pavilion and went to join him. If he was going to follow her around anyway she might as well find out why.

'Drink?' She asked. He nodded and they moved over towards a table where a servant poured them both a goblet of wine. Catherine disliked the taste of wine, for some reason it had never grown on her and she preferred water, but since Athos seemed more than happy to drink the stuff she decided to just make do. They walk silently around the groups of people, nodding to them politely as they passed.

'You don't like or know much about wine.' Athos observed after a while.

'What makes you say that?' Catherine asked.

'You've barely touched that goblet.'

'Perhaps I am just saving it.'

'Unlikely. Anybody who knows good wine does not like it warmed in the sun.' Athos snorted.

Both of them had meandered towards a small clearing at the very back of the royal gardens.

'You seem on edge around me.' Catherine spoke after a few minutes of silence.

'So do you around me.' It was a fair point.

'Might I ask why?' Athos said after a moment.

'Why I don't like wine or why I seem on edge?' Catherine asked.

'Both?'

'Contrary to your first assumption I actually know quite a lot about wine,' Catherine started. 'but I never seem to taste anything beyond the alcohol and so I don't much like drinking it. As to the second point is it so unreasonable for a woman to be wary of man she has just met?'

'No.' Athos said gently. 'On the contrary it shows some prudence of thought. But then you do seem the type to get into trouble.'

'Because I made one mistake?' Catherine asked a little too harshly.

'No. Because you act rashly.' Athos said as if scolding D'Artagnan for letting his emotions cloud his judgement.

'You mean my little disagreement with your friend?' Catherine guessed turning to face him for the first time since they started their walk.

Athos nodded. 'Some might say that was not a wise decision.'

'Because I'm a woman.' Catherine challenged.

'Partially yes but also because you are a lady in waiting to the Queen. You keep acting like that you will draw unwanted attention and put yourself and the Queen in danger.' Athos' voice was smooth and calm. Catherine sighed there was no arguing with him on that.

'Is that why you did it?' Athos asked. 'Because he said you were a woman?'

'I'd expect such a low opinion from a Red Guard,' she confessed. 'But not from a musketeer, a man supposedly praised for his chivalrous actions.'

'To be fair to Davide in Paris it is hardly normal for a woman to wield a sword.' Athos commented.

'And that means that they shouldn't be allowed too or can't?'

'Aramis wouldn't think that.' Athos said absentmindedly.

'But you do?' Catherine asked.

He paused for a moment considering the question carefully. Part of him admired her for learning what she had done with such skill and he did not see any main objection to women being able to defend themselves. On the other hand he had seen and suffered first hand the damage that a woman skilled with a blade could do. If Milady had not learned to fight then perhaps his younger brother Thomas and countless other men and women would still be alive. A thought crossed his mind that perhaps Catherine was from the same background as his wife.

'I have no objection to women defending themselves, if that is what you mean.' He said at length. 'I do not, however, think it appropriate for a woman to learn to fight and remain unchecked.'

Catherine noticed that Athos' gaze had hardened towards her which only put her more on edge.

'Oh because men are so checked in their liberty towards violence.' She snapped sarcastically.

'The difference between you and I is that I am trained only to fight when to protect the king or to dispense the King's justice.' He replied.

'And what about your honour?' Catherine asked coldly. 'Do you not also fight to protect _that_ as well?'

Athos' eyes narrowed at her tone. He had heard that accusation levelled at him once before by Milady as well.

For a moment neither of them spoke leaving an uncomfortable tension in the air.

'Where did you learn to fight?' Athos coolly inquired.

Catherine had expected the question but had not anticipated he would ask it so bluntly and out of the blue.

'That is not your concern.' She snapped defensively.

'It could be.' Athos retaliated.

'No, it really couldn't!' Catherine turned on her heel and started back the way they had come.

'If you won't tell me then I can only assume you have something to hide and that makes you a danger.' Athos called after her.

Catherine understood the subtext of his accusation all to well and she slowly turned around.

'So,' she said offhandedly. 'You think I am both a _liability_ and a _danger _to the Queen then.' Catherine glared at Athos but his only reply was to level her gaze with a similarly cold expression.

'That is why you asked to accompany me, why you've been following me non stop since we returned to the palace.' Again she wasn't really asking him so much as stating the glaringly obvious.

Athos still said nothing. He expected and braced himself for an angry tirade or for Catherine to simply walk away from him - to his surprise she did neither. Instead she folded her arms across her chest and fixed him with a calm expression.

'I have no appreciation but experience with wine because I worked as maid in a tavern.' She began, her voice even but deadly quiet. 'I was taught the basics of sword handling by my uncle, a man of no consequence, before he died. He believed that I would have nothing when my parents and he died and so felt I should at least be equipped with enough skill to defend myself. I learned the rest while I was worked - the regular drinkers were quite useful in that respect. I was born to no noble family and have no connections beyond those to the Queen which I now hold. I have no money, no rich or poor friends and no interest in plotting against the King or Queen. The Queen gave me my job when I trespassed into the gardens on an afternoon walk and startled her. I do not particularly know the full reasons why the Queen chose me to be her lady in waiting, they are as unknown to you as they are to me and I suspect it will remain that way. I think that is enough information to satisfy you and your Captain's suspicions, now since I believe your Captain will be wondering where you have gone I shall not take up any more of your valuable time.' With that she walked away leaving Athos stood rooted to the spot still holding his hat.

When Athos returned to the pavilion he found that the King and musketeers had indeed returned from the hunt. A large stag was being paraded around for the ladies to marvel at and the King now sat next to the Queen was loudly boasting about the kill. Athos saw Aramis, D'Artagnan and Porthos standing in a group nearby and went to join them.

'How was the hunt?' He asked.

'Same as ever,' Porthos grumbled. 'Loud, tiring and unrewarding as far as we are concerned.'

'Where is your charge?' Aramis asked him, he didn't miss the man's eyes avert themselves to the ground. The truth was that Athos felt embarrassed about what had just occurred. He heard the bitterness in Catherine's voice and spotted the sadness and disappointment in her eyes. She had seen through his task all to well but rather than just put up a fight and drive him off she had simply decided to give him what he wanted to know. Athos knew should be feeling elated that at least his task was complete and yet he did not. He wasn't used to being a disappointment to someone. He knew Aramis, Porthos and D'Artagnan especially looked up to him and he, in turn, endeavoured to make sure he lived up to their expectations. But this time he realised he had failed, Catherine now thought and would probably only ever think of him as the man sent to get whatever he could out of her. As the thought crossed his mind Athos began to wonder at what her opinion of him had started to matter in his eyes.

'What happened?' Aramis asked when Athos did not reply.

'I got what we needed to know.' Athos said simply.

'Then why aren't you happy about it?' D'Artagnan asked. 'Is she a threat?'

Athos told them everything she had told him leaving out the last few sentences.

'Do you believe her?' Porthos asked when he finished.

'There was no lie in her eye.' He replied. 'It is easy enough to check out.'

'Still we probably should check. Treville would want us to be sure.' D'Artagnan said firmly and Porthos nodded.

'We can start tonight at the local taverns.' He suggested. 'If she worked as a bar maid then one of them has to have head of her.'

Aramis was still looking at Athos' vacant expression.

'You're upset,' He noted quietly. Athos looked up at him.

'I'm fine Aramis.' He said bluntly.

'So is she.' Aramis pointed out and nodded towards the pavilion.

Athos turned his head to see Catherine and Annabelle at the table at the side of the pavilion. Annabelle was eating a plate of fruit and conversing with another man while Catherine was slumped back in her chair staring dejectedly at the grass.

Another pang of guilt hit Athos in the chest.

'What happened Athos?' Aramis said again.

'I already told you.' Athos said giving Aramis a dead stare.

'Athos…' Aramis began but he was interrupted by Treville's arrival.

'Well did you find anything?' He asked. Athos repeated what he had said to the other three and D'Artagnan added that they were going to start checking it out that night. When he finished speaking Treville nodded.

'Good,' he said. 'The King and Queen will retire soon, when they do you are free to go.' With that he gave them all a nod and went to the next group of musketeers. Aramis looked to find that Athos' eyes had gone back to staring at Catherine. He nudged him in the arm.

'Go and talk to her.' He said.

Athos did not take his eyes from her. 'There's nothing more to say,' he said at length.

'You'll regret it if you don't.' Aramis replied then turned to follow D'Artagnan and Porthos. One had gone to find food the other had gone to find Constance.

Athos stood staring for a minute, he knew Aramis was right but he also did not know what he was supposed to say to her. Closing his eyes he moved slowly towards where Catherine was sat. She looked up at him as he stopped in front of the table, so did Annabelle.

'Well?' Catherine asked mildly. 'Have you reported to your Captain?'

'Yes.'

'Then your duty is done then?'

Athos nodded.

Catherine sighed and stood up.

'Thank you for helping me today, I shall try not to act so rashly in future.'

They looked at each other for a moment.

'I think the Queen is leaving,' Annabelle observed standing up herself.

'Then we should go.' Catherine replied still looking at Athos. 'Unless there was something else you wanted Monsieur?'

Athos wanted to say something but his throat was too tightly constricted. He paused for a moment longer and then turned and left placing his hat on his head.

'He's rather handsome.' Annabelle remarked as he left.

'Undoubtedly so,' was the only reply.


	7. Chapter 7 - Reparation

Chapter 7 - Reparation

Hello everyone. Thank you to everyone for continuing to read this story and review. I own none of the traditional characters of the Musketeers.

Athos did not sleep well that night. Since he had given Milady a second chance by banishing her from Paris, sleep had come a lot easier. He was still the man who had turned a countess into a murderess but he was no longer the murderer of the woman he loved. After that day Athos had often wondered whether or not he still loved his wife and whether that part of him had been responsible for his mercy. But every time he had asked himself the question he always found himself unable to answer it. He could write her out of neither his past nor his present, since without her actions he would not have become the musketeer he was. Yet completely letting go was proving surprisingly hard. Many times he wished that it could be as easy as discarding the locket that had hung like a noose around his own neck for so long. That night though it was another woman, not Milady that kept Athos' mind from finding peaceful slumber. He had been given a duty to do. He had done it. Why couldn't that be enough?

The temptation to turn to the bottles of wine hidden at the back wall under the bed was becoming ever more appealing as Athos tossed and turned. Everytime Athos shut his eyes the vision of those disappointed and sad eyes flashed into view. There was something about Athos' reaction to Catherine that terrified and intrigued him at the same time. Athos had sworn off romance and women after his marriage collapsed and while that resolve had been well and truly tested by Ninon de Larroque Athos had pretty much remained true to it. Until now that was. Since Catherine had departed to attend to the Queen, Athos had been unable to get her out of his head. His brooding manner had definitely returned over dinner that night, something d'Artagnan, Aramis and Porthos picked up on. Aramis had a pretty good inclination as to why but Porthos and d'Artagnan looked on worriedly. While Aramis managed to persuade Porthos to let it go d'Artagnan had gone so far as to try and follow Athos home. His attempt lasted all of two streets until Athos, all too aware of what the boy was trying to do, had blatantly told him to leave him be. Athos was fairly certain that d'Artagnan as usual had ignored his request but since he did not feel or hear the musketeer for the rest of the journey he let it be.

The bells of Notre Dame rang out for five o' clock in the morning. Athos moaned and sat up on the edge of his bed. What did he have to do to get rid of this dead weight in his stomach and mind? From sheer tiredness he closed his eyes and listened to his conscience. He only got one word in reply. 'Apologise.'

Opening his eyes again Athos resolved he would get no rest until he made some form of reparation for his actions, not that he technically needed to anyway. Five o' clock meant that the Queen's ladies would soon be up getting everything ready for the Queen. Athos dressed and armed himself before setting off in the direction of the palace. Perhaps he could sort this out before his was due on duty. The walk in the dark was made more pleasant by the quietness around Paris. Give it another hour and that would all change, but for now the peace and clean air allowed Athos to sharpen his mind.

Athos chose a quiet back entrance to get into the palace. The royal guards rarely questioned a musketeer entering the palace but Athos particularly wanted to avoid the attention of the Red guards on the early morning patrol.

As Athos strode down the corridors a door opened on his left and Constance emerged.

'Athos?' She asked giving him a startled stare.

'Madame Bonacieux,' Athos tipped his hat.

'A little early to be at the palace isn't it?' Constance asked collecting herself together again.

'I was looking for someone.'

Constance's eyebrows raised. 'She's not likely to be up yet she doesn't start until later.'

Athos marvelled at the woman before him. He had always respected Constance. Unlike many women he had met Constance had a remarkably sharp eye and not least the ability to ground d'Artagnan's hot headedness. On many levels she and d'Artagnan made a good match for each other. The depth of Constance's foresight was enough to startle even Athos sometimes and now was one of those moments.

'Don't look at me like that.' Constance said to him. 'Why else would you drag yourself here at this time in the morning?'

'She told you then.'

'Of course. What were you thinking? If you ask me you deserve to have been kept up all night.' Constance muttered flattening the front of her dress.

'I had a job to do.' Athos responded.

'Well if you ask me accusing someone you just met of being a traitor and spy was a stupid way to go about it, even by musketeer standards.' Constance said.

Athos grimaced. 'I did not call her a traitor.'

'You might as well have.'

'When is she likely to be up?' Athos asked quietly.

'She is up now and she has a name!' Constance and Athos' gaze turned towards the source of the cold voice at the end of the corridor and found Catherine standing with her arms characteristically folded across her chest eyeing them disapprovingly.

'I thought the Queen said you were to get some rest.' Constance replied.

'Marie is still ill and Annabelle's leave begins today.' Catherine replied. 'You can't do the breakfast, dress and linens on your own.'

'You should be in bed.' Constance chided. 'You look as if you've slept as much as he has.'

That part was true anyway.

'I'll manage and like I said you can't do everything on your own.' Catherine turned her gaze towards Athos had remained staring at her.

'A little early for musketeer duties isn't it.' She noted after a moment.

'I'm not here on official business.' Athos replied.

'Then why are you here? Does Captain Treville suspect me in some new plot?' While sarcasm did not suit Catherine well frankly she felt it was too early in the morning to care. Both Constance and Athos picked up on the hurt that resounded in the background and Catherine took some satisfaction from seeing Athos' gaze drop to ground.

'I came to apologise.' Athos said slowly.

Constance and Catherine shared a glance after which Constance departed down the corridor.

'Since when did duty require an apology?' Catherine said at length.

'Since duty caused me to offend you.'

Catherine sighed and walked down the corridor stopping a few steps before Athos. She stared at him for a moment longer and sighed again.

'Your apology is accepted sir. You can go now.' The words were spoken blankly.

Athos and Catherine's gazes locked on each other.

'I really am sorry,' Athos murmured softly.

'And I told you your apology is accepted.' Catherine said firmly.

'And yet it appears I am not yet forgiven.'

'When you do something worth forgiveness I will give it to you.' Catherine replied without quite comprehending what she had just said.

'What exactly would that entail?' Athos asked. He fully understood the implications of what had just been said but, guessing that the girl in front of him did not, decided to play along.

'If you want my forgiveness you'll have to earn back my trust.' Catherine said after a brief pause.

'I was not aware I had broken that in the first place.' Athos said evenly.

'I trusted you as a man of honour, a man who wanted to accompany and talk to me for that reason alone, a man who was at least open minded enough to give someone a chance. Instead you decided to entrap and insult me purely to get what you wanted. If you want my forgiveness then restore my trust in that first opinion and you shall have it.' The words were evenly spoken but even as they left her mouth Catherine felt a feeling of foreboding settle over her.

Athos stared at the woman in front of him with a mild and thoughtful expression on his face.

'So you want me to prove my honour to you?'

'I want you to demonstrate to me why I should ever trust you again. If you can do that I'll forgive you.'

Athos sighed at the enormity of what she wanted. For a moment a flicker of anger, at the infringement of his honour, crossed his mind but he quickly steadied himself. If that was what she wanted then for the sake of his own peace of mind he would need to find a way to give it to her. But how? Athos pondered a moment. Catherine valued equality between men and women that was obvious, she also seemed to value integrity and the idea of trust. She had been made to reveal and entrust the secrets of her past to him perhaps the remedy was to do the same in return. Equality between the pair of them. There was just one very big problem. Athos was not yet prepared to give up his painful past to a woman he had just met. His indecision must have shown on his face because Catherine sighed and turned away.

'You have apologised and it has been accepted,' she said. 'For now at least it seems we will both have to make do with that.'

'What you want I cannot so easily give.' Athos said softly.

'Then as I said we shall make do for now.'

'So we are indifferent acquaintances then?' Athos said.

'We are acquaintances.' Catherine corrected Athos without looking at him. 'I won't stop distrusting you until you prove that I can.'

'I…' Athos was interrupted by the sound of crashing porcelain and cursing.

'I told her she couldn't do it all alone.' Catherine cried in frustration. 'You should go Monsieur, you'll be late for duty.' With that statement Catherine hurried away.

'Athos,' He called after her. 'My name is Athos.'

'Catherine!' She shouted back already out of sight.

Athos shook his head and started back down the corridor. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a shadow move from behind a low hanging window tapestry and stopped. But nothing materialised and deciding that his tiredness was to blame Athos left the way he came. As the resonation of his boots on the polished floors faded away the tapestry moved again and the Comte de Rochefort stepped out from behind.


	8. Chapter 8 - Sparks

Chapter 8 - Sparks

Hello everyone, thank you once more for taking the time to read and review this story. With the exception of the OC the character portrayals belong to Alexandre Dumas and the BBC.

Both Catherine and Constance spent the morning rushed off their feet. The Queen has her usual breakfast and morning walking watching the King shoot but then the court physician has arrived to give the Queen her check up. While fortuitously both mother and baby seemed to be doing well the appointment meant that the bed linens had to be changed in the early afternoon as both Constance and Catherine had to attend the Queen as she lunched with the King. Around two o' clock that afternoon Catherine was carrying the fresh linens towards the Queen's chamber when a man stepped into her path.

'Excuse me!' Catherine snapped indignantly but when tried to step around him the man simply moved and cut her off again.

'Can I help you?' Catherine said now mildly alarmed.

'That remains to be seen.' He murmured. Permit me to introduce myself I am the Comte de Rochefort at your service.' He gave a low bow but never took his eyes off Catherine's face.

'I know who you are.' Catherine said irritably. 'If you don't mind some of us have got work to do.' Again she tried to move around him but found herself blocked once more. Rochefort fixed her with a piercing stare for a moment.

'You are the daughter of a poor family yes?'

'What concern is that of yours?'

'Your uncle was an inn keeper in Blois and your father was a failed farmer who married a daughter of a count.' Catherine's eyes widened as Rochefort continued speaking and she began to back away from him.

'How do you know that?'

'The story is that your mother's father disowned her for marrying below her station and refused to even acknowledge her child. He cheated you out of an inheritance and a privileged life although,' he chuckled 'you do seem to have found a way around that little obstacle.'

'Who? What? How?' Catherine had continued to back away but she was now backed up against the wall with nowhere to go. Rochefort grinned and placed his arms either side of her blocking any escape.

'But that's not quite the full truth is it?' He looked at her directly.

'Get away from me.' Catherine snarled.

'I could but wouldn't it be a terrible shame if your new friend was to find out exactly why your grandfather disowned you and why the Queen really appointed you.'

'What…what new… friend? What are you talking about?' Catherine stammered.

'Why your new musketeer friend of course! Athos isn't it?'

'Why is any of this your business?' Catherine cried.

'My dear lady was it not me who found you slaving away in that wretched tavern? Was it not me who recommended you walk in the gardens that day? Do you honestly think for one moment that the Queen would have spared you and taken you on if it were not for my intervention?' At his last point Catherine's eyes widened with terror and the linens fell into a messy heap on the ground.

'Why?' She croaked.

Rochefort dropped his arms from her side but did not answer her question. 'All I ask is that you never forget that person to whom you are really indebted, the person who really owns you!' With particular emphasis on the last part of the sentence Rochefort turned on his heel and walked away. Catherine slumped to the ground and dropped her head onto her shaking knees. She had not lied to Athos when she told him she had little to no knowledge as to why the Queen had appointed her but she had deliberately neglected to discuss the details of her ancestry with him. What scared her even more was that Rochefort was correct on every point he had just made. She remember how odd it had been when she first saw Rochefort at court. As a bar maid she had served him a couple of times in the tavern where she had worked yet he had always appeared in peasant clothing with scraggy, greasy hair and she never knew who he really was until she came to court. Now this. Was he threatening her? Why? Why had he made sure she had been appointed as a lady in waiting? What was his problem with Athos?

The questions came as a barrage in her mind and despite the darkness from her closed eyes the world seemed to be spinning.

'Catherine!' A distant voice called. 'Catherine can you hear me? Wake up!'

'Constance?' Catherine asked finally persuading her eyes to open. Above her were four blurry faces which gradually began to focus. The face on the far right belonged to Constance, on the left was Aramis, behind him was another dark skinned man she had seen but did not know and the last face belonged to Athos. Catherine shifted uncomfortably at the four pairs of eyes staring down at her. Wait, staring down at her? Then the realisation that she was half laid, half slumped on the floor hit her.

'What happened?' Athos' voice was soft but his gaze was intense.

Catherine opened her mouth to reply but no sound came out of her parched throat.

'Where's d'Artagnan with that water?' Aramis asked and thirty seconds later the man called d'Artagnan appeared looking flushed holding a jug of water.

'Where have you been?' Constance chided him.

'But the woman in the kitchens…' D'Artagnan trailed off seeing Constance's stare.

'Never mind,' She said after a few seconds.

'Here, drink.' Athos said.

Catherine swallowed a mouthful of the water which the musketeers offered to her.

'Now what happened?' Aramis repeated his friend's earlier question.

'Rochefort.' Catherine whispered.

'Rochefort?' Asked d'Artagnan. 'What does he have to do with this?'

'Quiet!' Athos snapped back and then to Catherine, 'go on.'

'He caught me taking the things back to the Queen,' Catherine's memory was still a little hazy. 'I tried to leave but he wouldn't get out of my way…'

'Did he hurt you?' Asked Aramis.

Catherine shook her head slowly. The sceptical expression on all their faces plainly told her that they did not believe a word she had just said.

'We should move away from here.' Constance said after a moment.

'She can't go back to work.' Aramis' voice readopted his physician's authorial quality.

'I guess not,' Constance sighed. 'You'd best bring her to bed, she'll need rest.'

Catherine was about to say she could walk even though her legs felt like lead but to her surprise Athos picked her up off the ground and began carrying her towards her new room.

Catherine was not the only surprised one. Porthos, Aramis, d'Artagnan and Constance all wore rather shocked expressions as they watched Athos walk away carrying Catherine in his arms.

'I guess he knows where he's going.' Porthos grinned.

'Apparently so,' Aramis mused. 'Maybe we should leave him to handle it.'

'On his own?' D'Artagnan asked a little sceptically.

'I think he can be trusted don't you? Come on I think we are overdue paying the Comte de Rochefort a visit.' Aramis said.

Neither Athos nor Catherine spoke until Athos had placed her gently down on the bed in her room. The silence was palpable, after the morning's earlier events, but not uncomfortable.

'You didn't need to inconvenience yourself like this but thank you.' Catherine said quietly.

Athos shrugged. 'It was no inconvenience.'

'Still after this morning… why?' Catherine asked.

'Why not?'

Catherine could not quite decipher Athos' tone and pondered whether he was seriously asking the question or just being sarcastic. 'Do I really need to give you a list?' She said plainly but rolled her eyes just in case.

'A gentleman does not come across a lady on the floor and leave her there.' Athos commented.

'There were four of you there if I remember correctly.' Catherine was not really protesting against Athos' actions so much as trying to hide her own emotions and save face. Right now it was just easier to be critical than bend to the handsome man in front of her.

'Are you saying you would rather I just left you on the floor?' Athos responded flatly.

A small pause followed. 'No,' Catherine sighed and averted her eyes.

'You really don't trust me do you?' Athos enquired his voice adopting a hint of frustration.

'Why does it bother you so much one way or the other?' Catherine asked.

Athos tried to speak but no words came out. To say he didn't know the answer was a lie but to say he was unprepared to even consider it was not. Instead he opted for the inquisitorial approach.

'Why did the Comte de Rochefort press you?'

Catherine shrugged and Athos snorted and turned away.

'You're annoyed with me.' Catherine said quietly.

'You won't answer my question.' Athos snapped.

'Look where answering your questions got me the first time! And why should I answer your questions when you don't answer any of mine.' Catherine shot back.

Athos ran his hand through his unruly hair and stared out of the window.

'I do not trust people easily enough to talk to them readily.' He said after a moment.

'What?' Catherine asked caught off guard by his response.

'You asked why it bothered me that you don't trust me?'

'How does you not trusting people answer that question?' Catherine asked. Athos turned to look at her directly giving her a piercing gaze.

'I don't trust people freely and in Paris especially it is unwise too, but I know how to respect other people and will always strive to hold a confidence given to me.' Catherine still looked puzzled. 'I would not break someone's trust when I would not give it so readily myself. Until I met you I at least considered myself enough of a gentleman to be trusted.'

'So you want me to trust you so you can consider yourself a gentleman of honour again?' Catherine asked incredulously.

'No.' Athos replied. 'I don't want you to trust me for that!'

'Then what?' Catherine cried.

Athos bit his lip and clenched his fists. 'Because I want…' The words would not come.

Catherine watched him struggle and for a moment she glimpsed the internal emotional battle that Athos seemed to be fighting. Slowly she got up from the bed and walked over to him, stopping an arm's reach away.

'Did you once betray someone else's trust in you?' She asked very quietly. Athos looked at her sharply, his mind raced back to day he ordered Milady's execution. Back to the day he broke his marriage vows to love her for better or worse. Back to the day he betrayed both her and them. Pain settled like a dead weight in his heart.

'I take it your silence means yes.' Catherine's soft voice jilted him back to the present. Very slowly Athos nodded his blue eyes reading Catherine's closely. He was surprised to note that her eyes betrayed no hint of judgement, anger or even satisfaction just a strange sadness.

'It was my duty.' He said so quietly Catherine almost missed it.

'You're a man of duty above anything else.' Catherine replied sadly still gazing into his eyes. 'I guess that's the loyal solider of the king in you.'

'You could say that.'

'Very well I guess I cannot fault you for that.' Catherine gave a faint smile but placed her hands across her chest.

There was a moments peace in the room when everything seemed to pause momentarily and neither seemed able to move away from the other.

The peace was broken by a quick knock at the door and Constance walked in carrying a plate of food.

'Oh sorry…I didn't realise you were still here.' She said quickly spotting Athos.

'There is no need to apologise Madame Bonacieux I must be going anyway.' Athos said smoothly.

'Wait,' Catherine called as Athos reached the door. 'Do you want something to eat before you leave?'

Constance gave her a searching look. Athos merely gave a small smile and shook his head. 'Thank you for the thought but I will eat later.'

'Are you sure?' Catherine pushed not wanting the conversation to end like it had.

Athos nodded again. 'Thank you but I am fine.' With that he placed his hat on his head and left. Catherine closed her eyes and looked at the floor momentarily.

'What was that about?' Catherine looked up to see Constance assessing gaze fixed upon her.

'Nothing,' she muttered in reply and looked out of the window embarrassed.

Constance smiled sadly. She had known Athos a long time and knew, even personally suffering, the troubles that Milady had caused. If Catherine became attached something, probably from Constance's own experience, told her it would only end in heartbreak. But then she recalled how Athos' morning visit and his reaction to finding Catherine on the floor. Perhaps there was something there after all. Constance placed the plate of food on the bedside table and turned to go.

'You have leave for the rest of the day and for future reference Athos drinks a lot more than he eats.' She said to Catherine as she left to ready the Queen.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Mission

Chapter 9 - The Mission.

Hello everyone. Thank you very much for continuing to read this story. I know that some of you commented that my paragraphs seemed to turn into lists in the last chapter, so I have tried to remedy that in this one. I might not have succeeded in some parts owing to the need to keep the fast pace with which parts of this chapter are meant to be. But please let me know if there is anything glaringly obvious. Once again I own none of the characters except the OC.

Three weeks passed before Catherine or Athos saw one another again. Catherine, along with Constance, had been rushed off her feet with one lady in waiting still ill and the other on leave. Nevertheless both women seemed to take the extra workload in their stride. Catherine noted that while she had not seen Athos, more strangely Constance had not seen d'Artagnan. Four days was the maximum time she had ever counted those two not making some effort to see one another. For the first two weeks Constance had been fine, but over the last couple of days in particular Catherine had noticed that she had become very agitated. Considering Constance mostly stayed out of her love life, Catherine made every effort to return such a favour. But when they finally got ten minutes to sit down on the lawns and have a drink Catherine decided to just go ahead and bite the bullet.

'So how is d'Artagnan?' Catherine asked sipping from her glass. She had initially planned to gradually nudge the conversation in that direction but since the two of them had said very little so far that project went out of the window.

At her question Constance's eyes narrowed.

'I imagine he's fine.' She muttered in reply.

'You imagine?' Catherine raised her eyebrows.

'Is this your sly way of getting me to talk about Athos?' Constance asked hoping to dislodge the topic from the conversation. Catherine was just as embarrassed to talk about Athos as Constance was about d'Artagnan. Constance was, after all, still supposed to be the honourable married woman even though her and d'Artagnan's romance was no court secret.

'No.' Catherine said blushing at his name. 'I've just noticed you haven't seen him for a while and that you seem a little upset about it.'

Constance fixed her with a glare but recognising the honesty in the words her tone softened.

'If you must know,' she sighed. 'D'Artagnan's been sent away on some official mission somewhere by Treville. He left early last week and was supposed to have been back two days ago.'

Catherine had since gleaned enough about the four men from Constance to know that if d'Artagnan had gone on a mission Athos, Porthos and Aramis would also have been sent. A slight worry began to fill her at the fact that they had not returned on time but she did her best to mask it.

'When did you last hear from him?'

'The day before he left.' Constance said flatly. 'He said he would write and hasn't. But then he always says that.' She added as an afterthought.

'Have you been to the garrison? He might be back and just not have had the time to visit you yet.' Catherine suggested.

'I went yesterday. Treville said they had not returned and that he would send out a search party if they have not returned by tonight.'

Catherine sat back in her chair and pondered the information. If the musketeers had not returned by tonight that would make three days in total they were missing. Three days was enough time to travel to Calais at a fast pace with the bare minimal of stops so she concluded they were unlikely to just be late back. Considering Constance had only seen Treville that would mean that none of the men had returned either. With a sinking feeling in her stomach Catherine gradually calculated that the men were in some kind of trouble. She did her best to work her way through all the options available but each met with a different outcome than the current predicament.

'What are you plotting?' It was now Constance's turn to ask the concerned questions.

'Who says I'm plotting?' Catherine deadpanned.

'Your face and that neglected biscuit says so.' Constance joked.

Catherine tried to smile but her clasped fingers tensed in frustration.

'When do we next get a break?' She asked suddenly.

'Why?' Constance pushed.

'I was thinking of taking a little trip.' Catherine mused.

'A little trip where?' Constance asked exasperatedly.

'Nowhere special.' Catherine replied. 'Just a walk.'

'You're thinking of going after them aren't you.' Constance said after a moment.

Catherine shifted uncomfortably and then got up.

'Come on we'll be late back.'

'You can't go after them.' Constance said with a serious look on her face. 'Aside from the fact that you can't just leave when you please, you don't even know where they are, or what could have happened. There might be nothing wrong at all.'

Catherine gave a sharp look. 'You don't believe that though do you?'

Constance bit her lip. She had to admit that she had been thinking the same thing.

'You still can't go.' She said flatly.

'I wasn't going to just leave this afternoon.' Catherine protested. 'I'm not that rash.'

They both knew that the last point certainly was a lie.

'At least wait until tomorrow before you do something stupid.' Constance pleaded. 'They might be back tonight.'

'I told you I wasn't going this afternoon.' Catherine reinforced.

'Then where were you planning to go?' Constance asked.

'For a walk.'

'To where?' Constance folded her arms across her chest and Catherine gave in.

'To the garrison. I was going to see if I could at least discover where they went.'

Constance's eyes narrowed.

'After your last little spectacle at the garrison do you really think that is a good idea? What makes you think Treville would tell you anything?'

'I wasn't planning on asking.'

'No!' Constance understood what Catherine was driving at. 'You can't be serious.'

'Why not?'

'Because…because,' Constance threw her arms up in the air. 'Because you'll get caught and then you'll have us both in trouble!'

The two women stared at each. Both were fighting the same worry but both were arguing about the right way to solve it. Eventually, for the sake of peace, Catherine backed down. 'Alright fine, I won't go.'

'That's not enough!' Constance said sharply. 'Give me your word that you won't go.'

'You do realise that since we aren't men that rule doesn't really apply as well.' Catherine joked. But Constance held firm.

'Your word!' She repeated.

'Alright, alright!' I give you my word that I will not go to the musketeers garrison this afternoon.'

Constance examined her closely for a few moments and then appeared satisfied.

'Come on then let's get back.'

Catherine technically remained true to her word. She did not use the afternoon break to go to the musketeers garrison and to further satisfy Constance she stayed within her eyesight for most of it. But later that evening another little plan popped into her mind. As she went to take the Queen's day dress down to the launderers her path took her past the Cardinal's palatial apartments. Catherine remembered that Treville had sent the musketeers on an official mission. It was therefore unlikely that he would be the only one to have a record of it.

It was a reckless plan. If she was caught the punishment would be severe and there were not many excuses that would safely extrapolate her from the Cardinal's revenge if she were caught. But still it was a plan and right now the only thing that worried her more than the Cardinal's wrath was that Athos and his friends were likely in danger.

To ensure she had the time to look for what she needed to without raising suspicions Catherine virtually ran to the launderer with the Queen's dress. Once she handed it over she hurried back through the palace but turned left instead of right towards the Cardinals apartments. Owing to the clumsiness of the Red Guards there was often a five minute lapse in between the changing of the guard. Catherine had managed to time it perfectly as she saw that the Cardinal's office door was unguarded. Constantly looking around her for signs of movement Catherine approached the door and pressed an ear to it. There was no use in going right in if the Cardinal was actually in there after all. A few moments of silence passed.

With a last quick look around Catherine opened the door a crack and peeked in. No-one there. Sighing with relief she slipped inside and quickly shut the door. She did not have long, a fact that she was all too aware of as she hurried to the Cardinal's desk and riffled through the papers. Nothing. She tried the draws but still nothing useful. Finally she turned to the bookcase behind the desk and examined the books and rolls. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. The mission if official could be secret and if so the papers would not simply be lying around. 'Think girl think,' she murmured quietly. 'If I was the Cardinal where would I hide something secret?' She glanced around the Cardinal's largely bare room. The decided to feel along the edges of the chair and desk. As she ran her hands along one of the table legs a bump brushed her hand. Or, more accurately, a leaver. Catherine tugged it and cried out as the table leg seemingly detached from the table. Terror flowed through her at the thought she had broken the Cardinal's furniture. Then gradually she relaxed as she saw that the hollow table leg was full of scrolls and paper!

With time ever slipping away from her, Catherine began unrolling through the miscellany of paper. Just when she was about to bow to the pressure she unfurled a relatively new looking roll of paper. There wasn't much, just a map, a date and one statement at the bottom.

October 22nd 1633, Henri, le Duc de Champagne, by the grace of God to give one fifth of his land to his gracious majesty King Louis XIII of France.

October 22nd was around the date that Constance said d'Artagnan had gone. Champagne, to north east of Paris, was around two days hard ride. Catherine did the math in her head. The musketeers had been gone for six days so far, seven if they did not return that evening. Had they gone to Champagne to authorize the handover? Catherine glanced at the map which took the form of a route which she immediately noticed took its followers off the regular road to that region. If Athos and the others had followed this route anything might have happened to them.

The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching outside jilted Catherine back to reality. She had stayed too long! Stuffing the paper down the front of her dress Catherine tried to push the table leg back onto the table but it would not lock into place. As the cardinal's voice became louder and louder she panicked. After a last ditched attempt to shut the table leg back Catherine threw herself into the small door at the side of the room. Mercifully it was unlocked and opened to allow her to settle at the base of a set of spiral stairs. As she shut the door the Cardinal strode into his office, two guards and an unfortunate gentleman in tow. Unsure of where the stairs led Catherine paused for a moment and the Cardinal's raving became audible.

'Oh how my heart bleeds for you!' The Cardinal snapped. 'Let me be clear. You promised the payment yesterday and yet payment has not been made. Do you think you are the exception of Paris monsieur? Do you think that the King himself will be content with such excuses?'

'Please your Eminence,' the man begged in return. 'My wife is ill and can't work. My daughter's dowry needs paying and my ship failed to arrive on time. I will have your eminence's money by the end of the week, I swear it!'

'But it isn't my money is it? It is the King's money. You failed…' The Cardinal suddenly stopped mid-sentence. For a moment there was silence.

'Your Em..inence?' the man stammered.

'Silence you fool!' the Cardinal snapped.

There was a murmuring of voices and then the clear sound of footsteps heading towards the door which Catherine hid behind. Petrified she bolted up the staircase but the sounds of her shoes hitting the stone echoed back down to those below.

'Get after him!' The Cardinal's voice resounded up the stairs.

Catherine continued to run up and up the stairs until she slammed into yet another door. She fled through the room and out onto the roof terrace. Terror filled her as she ran to its edge. There was nowhere left to run. The only way out was to jump down but the drop was at least fifteen foot high! If she did make down out alive she would certainly not emerge unscathed.

The guards were not far behind her, their shouts became ever more audible. Closing her eyes Catherine swung herself down over the edge of the intricate stone banister which ran along the edge of the terrace and lowered herself down as far as she could manage. Praying to God that there was no-one below who could see her Catherine waited. Seconds later she heard the Red Guards emerge onto the roof terrace.

'Where is he then?' One of them asked.

'That's the only door right?' Another voice snapped.

'Maybe he went over the edge?' The first man suggested. Catherine tensed. If they looked she was done for.

'Nah. Its too high no-one's that stupid.' The first one said.

'Yeah but maybe…' Footsteps approached and Catherine felt her heart stop.

'I said no!' The first man shouted. 'He's probably gone down that other corridor!'

The footsteps receded.

Had she not been hanging fifteen feet from the ground Catherine would have collapsed. Instead she forced herself to wait for a few more seconds before hauling herself back over the ledge. Breathing heavily from shock and the pain which stemmed from her now grazed elbows and palms she sank to the floor for a few minutes. Half afraid that the guards would return Catherine quickly schooled herself and moved cautiously back through the open door.

Upon entering the room again Catherine noted that had she have taken the time to peruse her surroundings, rather than simply fleeing straight through, she would have noticed a now open side door which led to another set of corridors.

Catherine made sure to listen intently all the way as she made her way slowly through the passages. Intense relief washed over her when she finally found herself back on the main corridor leading along the gardens. As she made her way back to the Queen's apartments she mentally prepared an explanation as to why she had taken so long. Yet it was to her utmost surprise that when she re-entered Queen Anne's chambers neither the Queen nor Constance paid her any attention whatsoever or asked any unwanted questions. Mercifully she had not taken as long as she thought she had passed and subsequently Catherine spent the remainder of the day feeling grateful that someone seemed to be watching over her fortunes that day.

While she was exhausted by the end of the day upon retiring to her room Catherine took out the map, which had remained safely stowed down the front of her dress, and began to study it again.

She would of course be lying if she said she had not made up her mind to after Athos and his friends, but she remembered that she would leave Constance in the lurch if she did. Consequently she at least conceded to wait until tomorrow in the hope that they would all turn up that evening and everything would be fine. Unfortunately a large part of her doubted that would happen and now everything hinged on tomorrow's news.


	10. Chapter 10 - Decisions

Chapter 10 - Decisions.

Hello everyone, thank you very much for the incredibly kind reviews and support! As usual I own none of the characters except the OC.

Catherine spent the rest of the sleepless night planning how to find Athos should he not have returned by the morning. She briefly considered asking Constance to accompany her, she knew that d'Artagnan was everything to her and travelling as a woman in France alone was not recommended. Despite the advantages Constance's reaction to Catherine's initial plan worried her. She was uncertain as to whether Constance would seek to hinder her going for both their sakes if she found out. Constance was lucky to have her position at court, a position which allowed her opportunities to be close to d'Artagnan, and Catherine was not particularly enthralled at the prospect of asking Constance to potentially give all that up.

Eventually she decided not to ask for Constance's company. She felt bad about of leaving Constance in the lurch, without even telling her that she knew where d'Artagnan had gone, but at least Constance would still have her position and the privileges at the end of it all! Catherine had already knew that her best bet for finding the musketeers would be to start by following the route on the map and scour the path for signs of a skirmish. She would have to travel by horse but thanks to her access to the royal stables that was not so much of a problem. The final matter to be resolved was should she travel as a woman of no consequence or disguise herself as a man. Both had advantages. Captors, enslavers and guards were less likely to suspect as a trouble maker if she approached them as a woman, but as a man she could openly carry weapons and was more likely be left alone on the road. 'Decisions, decisions,' she pondered.

In the end Catherine made up her mind to take the riskier option of travelling as a woman concealing any weapons beneath her skirts. She was prepared to gamble the dangers of travelling for the element of surprise should would have when she eventually encountered the trouble that was detaining the musketeers. Fortunately Catherine still had the old tattered gown and corset that she had worn as a tavern maid and arrived at the palace in stored away. She could not change at the palace too many questions would be asked, so she wrapped up the dress in a carrying basket and hid her two small daggers and a pistol in there too. Underneath her bed Catherine also kept her uncle's old sword in the blue velvet lined box in which it had been bestowed to her. Catherine unsheathed the sword with a melancholy expression. The hilt while light was adorned with silver filigree and three fleur-de-lis on the tips. The blade itself was still sharp and straight but it was in desperate need of an oiling and clean. Catherine sighed sadly as she examined the intricate detail on the hilt again. Upon her uncle's death the sword, which had virtually been an extension of the man, had been specially given to her but it had long carried too many happy memories which only ended in pain. The fleur-de-lis made Catherine wonder whether or not her uncle had either been or beaten a musketeer in his lifetime. 'Am I doing the right thing?' she asked the sword absentmindedly. Silence was her only reply. Sheathing the sword again Catherine reattached it to the belt also provided and tied it beneath the outer layer of her skirts since it was far too long for the basket.

By the time she had finished preparing the rough basics the bells had struck through the darkness to sound four in the morning. Now, while it was still dark but with the promise of day not too far ahead, would be the best time to go but Catherine had said she would wait to see if the morning would bring Athos and his friends with it. She had just sat down on the bed when a quiet knock came at the door. Her eyes widened in surprise when she opened it to find Constance stood there also accompanied by another large basket.

'Can I come in please?' Constance asked shooting quick glances down the corridor. Catherine stood aside to let her pass and closed the door. Constance set the basket down on the floor next to Catherine's and gave her an appraising look.

'You're still going to go after him aren't you?'

Catherine shifted uncomfortably. 'I just couldn't sleep.' she muttered.

'So you packed a large basket with your old dress in it? Do I look stupid?' Constance asked.

'I was merely perusing old times.' Catherine tried calmly.

Constance gave her a glare.

'Well it looks like I'm going to have to go and find them on my own then.'

Catherine's brow furrowed. Was Constance actually serious or was she testing her? But then there was the basket which Catherine now noted also contained what looked like an old dress.

'What about the Queen?' she asked trying to decipher Constance out.

'Marie came in later last night,' Constance said. 'Apparently she doesn't trust us enough to handle the Queen's business so she's stubbornly said she will return today.'

'If she is still ill the Queen won't like it.' Catherine mused.

'The Queen said she was alright to come back, providing she takes it easy.' Constance shrugged.

'I thought you were at least going to see if they came back this morning?' Catherine's eye's narrowed.

Constance sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. 'I've been thinking about what you said yesterday,' she began. 'Its not so unusual if they are a day or so late back but its been two days and none of them have returned. I still think this is a stupid idea we have no idea where they went or what they were supposed to be doing but I've nearly lost d'Artagnan before, I can't just sit here and risk losing him again.'

Catherine studied Constance's worried expression for a moment. She didn't pretend to fully understand the depth of Constance's relationship to d'Artagnan. She did not doubt that Constance loved d'Artagnan but she also knew that Constance remained definitively loyal, in name and position, to her husband. She did not fully associate Consequently Catherine did not fully associate Constance as someone willing to give up everything for love, yet her words just now made Catherine seriously consider whether she needed to start eating her own.

'D'Artagnan would not appreciate this.' Catherine stated.

'What does that matter?'

'If you leave you will lose your position and jeopardise your access to him.' Catherine explained. 'You know he wouldn't want that.'

'If I don't help him now it won't matter one way or the other whether I lose my position or not.' Constance said sadly.

Catherine sighed again.

'You feel the same way about Athos do you not?' Constance asked after a moment.

'I can't explain how I feel.' Catherine paused before answering truthfully. 'But whatever I feel about him he clearly doesn't return it.'

'You don't know Athos that well.' Constance smiled. 'He likes you.'

'Because he helped me back here after I had a fainting fit?' Catherine remarked dryly. 'Athos strikes me as a man who will help anyone in trouble that doesn't mean he likes them.'

'You didn't see him when he found you on the floor.' Constance remarked. 'Also I don't know many men that would come looking to apologise to someone at five in the morning. He cares for you a little more than you probably think.'

Catherine sighed again not particularly liking the conversation.

'Well the good news is we aren't completely lost on the tracking front.' She replied changing the topic.

'Oh?' Constance asked.

Catherine took out the piece of paper from the front of her dress and handed it to Constance who unfurled it.

'I believe that's where they've gone at least.' Catherine prompted.

'You promised you wouldn't go to the garrison!' Constance said flatly.

'And I kept that promise,' Catherine replied.

'Then where…'

'The Cardinal.'

Constance's eyebrows nearly rose to her hairline. 'You stole this from the Cardinal?' She asked slowly.

'Borrowed, temporarily.' Catherine smirked. 'And yes I know the Cardinal would have my head if he found out it was me.'

'Too right he would.' Constance muttered.

'What did you bring in the basket?' Catherine asked.

'A change of clothes and some weapons.'

Now it was Catherine's turn to raise her eyebrows.

'Weapons?'

'What?' Constance exclaimed. 'Do you think you are the only woman in Paris who can fight?'

'D'Artagnan?' Catherine chuckled.

'Maybe.'

They both laughed quietly.

'So,' asked Constance. 'Is this the plan then, to follow the road they took and try and find them?'

'Basically yes.' Catherine said. 'I was hoping to take one of the horses to get out of Paris and then scout for signs of a skirmish along the road. If we don't find any then that leaves the Duke of Champagne's residence as the most likely place to try after.'

'And if they've been captured?' Constance hesitated.

'Then we do our best to get them out without getting ourselves or them killed!'

Constance and Catherine discussed their plan until the bells sounded for five o' clock.

'When were you thinking of going?' Constance asked.

'Not until tomorrow evening or early morning. I wanted to see if they made it back tonight.' Catherine said.

Constance nodded. 'I'll go to the garrison at first break and see. If they haven't returned Treville will also have sent out a search party.'

True to her word Constance went to the musketeers garrison during their first morning break. Marie, despite still not being quite restored, was back at work as she had said which considerably lightened the load on Constance and Catherine.

Catherine fidgeted and toyed with her fingers through most of the break and then spent the rest of it pacing back and forth. When Constance returned the look on her face and gait of her walk was more than enough to smash any hopes that both of them had held.

'Nothing?' Catherine didn't need to ask but it was the natural question.

Constance shook her head. 'No, Treville sent out men early this morning but he doesn't know when they'll be back.'

'I'm sorry Constance.' Catherine replied sadly at Constance's down turned expression.

'No need, we'll just have to go tonight ourselves and find them!' Constance said firmly.

'We should go around four in the morning if we can.' Catherine advised. 'Its still dark enough for us to get out of Paris but late enough for daylight to be rising when we get on the road.'

Constance nodded again. 'I guess that means we can get some sleep at least.'

'I guess.' Catherine said although it was fairly obvious that both knew that neither one would sleep.

'Where shall we meet?' Constance inquired.

'Meet me at the stables at four, I'll make sure the horses are fed, watered and saddled.'

They both fell silent as Marie came over and told them that the Queen was waiting.

'Will she manage on her own?' Catherine asked eyeing Marie's pale countenance closely.

'She'll have to.' Constance replied as if stating a matter of fact.

Both Constance and Catherine spent the remainder of the day fussing over the Queen trying desperately to leave on a good impression. Both of them knew their jobs were as good as forfeit the moment they left Paris but they still felt there was no harm in trying to gain favour at the last. Catherine tried purely for Constance's sake, apart from finding Athos she had little care right now for her position.

As eleven o' clock came and went both women went to there separate rooms to finish preparations - or in Catherine's case pace anxiously until half past three arrived.

When three o'clock arrived Catherine could no longer wait and, checking anxiously to see if any guards were around, headed to the stables hiding her basket under her cloak. She watered and fed the horses first before tacking them up, something she found exceedingly hard without a light which she refused to light considering she didn't want to wake the stable lad. She had barely finished tacking up her own horse when Constance arrived with her own basket.

'Shall we change now or later?' she asked.

'Let's at least wait until we are near the outskirts of Paris.' Catherine murmured holding Constance's basket as she mounted. Constance in turn held both of their baskets as Catherine mounted and covered herself in her cloak.

'What about the guards at the gates?' Constance hissed.

'There's only ever one by the back entrance, he shouldn't be much bother.' Catherine replied.

Sure enough there was only one guard. The expression of utter shock on the man's face when she punched him right on the side of his temple made Catherine sympathise with him, but that feeling was soon behind her as both her and Constance made their way as silently as possible through the streets of Paris.

They stopped at Constance's old home to change their outfits leaving their rich silk gowns in one of Constance's cupboards.

'Right have we got everything?' Constance checked.

'I think so.' Catherine said feeling the cold touch of her uncle's sword against her leg. 'Are you absolutely sure you want to come with me?'

Constance nodded. 'Let's go,' she said quietly 'if my husband wakes up they'll be hell on earth to pay.'

The trip out of Paris despite being long and dread filled was uneventful. As they emerged out of the streets into the open surroundings Catherine took the map out from its usual spot and pointed to the direction that both were to take. As the two women began their long journey into the darkness some very tired men in full length dark blue cloaks finally made it back into the musketeers garrison. Unfortunately there was only three of them…


	11. Chapter 11 - Journey

Chapter 11 - Journey

Hello everyone! Thank you ever so much for continuing to read and review this story. As usual I own none of the characters except the OC.

The cellar was dark, dingy and cold. Still, its unwillingly occupant pondered, it was far from the worst place he'd ever been forced to inhabit.

For a cellar the place was pretty poor. The area was sparse and bare. There were no stocks of food, no light and perhaps more mournfully no wine.

To the occupant the lack of food was not a major problem, even the absence of light was liveable being somewhat conducive to a peaceful atmosphere. The constant scraping of chairs and feet above the room had ceased to give the man a headache after the first couple of days. At least that was the length of time he felt he had been incarcerated.

From his slouched position at the back of the cellar the musketeer reluctantly allowed himself to cast his mind back. Things had been going so well prior to this, too well even he mused. The seemingly peaceful journey there and back should have set all of their alarm bells ringing. After all being a musketeer one quickly learned that any journey off the main road was never incident free.

The peaceful journey there and ease with which the mission had been concluded, meant that for a change all four brothers had been fairly relaxed and unguarded. Porthos had been chatting amiably with d'Artagnan about gambling cards. No doubt he had probably been teaching d'Artagnan techniques in cheating rather than actually giving sound advice, but still the gesture warmed the heart. Aramis, meanwhile, had been thoroughly absorbing the natural world around him. Aramis like nature in small bursts here and there. It was pleasant to watch as the lines of worry, that were often obscured behind Aramis' handsome facial features, gradually smooth out as the musketeer's mind stopped whirring with the troubles of Paris. Athos had been…well still his brooding self. Yet for once in his life Athos' mind was occupied with peaceful contemplation instead of nightmares.

They had not been ten miles from Paris when Aramis' horse had tripped over its feet. As Aramis jumped down and bent to check his horse's tendons and hooves, it became painfully clear that his horse was lame. Aramis tutted.

'That's going to take time to heal.'

'Will you make it to Paris?' Athos asked.

'Not like this.' Aramis stated. 'She needs a day or two at least to rest it.'

Now it was Athos' turn to tut. 'Treville won't be happy about this. Our orders were to get back as soon as possible.' He called from beneath the brim of his hat. Aramis gave him a glare which plainly told him that was not going to happen. He knew Athos valued and loved his horse, Bazajet, as much as the next musketeer loved his own. Bazajet had chosen Athos when he arrived at the garrison and had served him faithfully. While Bazajet was grouchy and grumpy in his own horse minded way so was Athos, a fact which gave both a mutual understanding allowing them to be the perfect match for each other. Since Athos rarely criticised the horses which served them so well and, along with d'Artagnan, gave hell to those who borrowed and misused them, Aramis was a little surprised to see the man was reluctant to let his mare take a few days.

'She can't limp all the way back to Paris Athos!' He snapped. 'Leave me here if you must and continue back to Paris.'

'Not gonna happen.' Porthos muttered before Athos could even contemplate the idea. 'Besides its getting darker now anyway.'

'If I remember correctly there's an inn not far ahead.' d'Artagnan said calmly. 'Why don't we rest there and see what she's like in the morning? Surely Treville won't begrudge one more day.'

Athos could tell this wasn't really up for contestation. When Porthos, Aramis and d'Artagnan united together even he knew the cause was lost.

'Fine. We'll make for the inn then.' He sniffed and set off again.

'Cheer up Athos,' d'Artagnan called after him. 'At least there'll be wine.'

'Hmpph.' the musketeer thought, now staring into the darkness. That point couldn't have been more wrong if it tried. 'Trust us to find the only inn in France were there is no wine. I don't know how they stay in business!' He cursed quietly for the hundredth time.

They had all trudged into the inn just as the torches were being lit. The inn and its stable stood alone in the clearing but, as the constant scraping above the prisoner told him, it was far from a desolate place.

Athos had gone up to the maid behind the bar and requested a room for the night with four goblets of the finest wine. He was met with a guarantee of a room, a charming smile but intense disappointment when the girl told him there was no wine. The annoyed look on his face must have slightly scared the young girl behind the bar for she quickly added.

'The usual delivery is late and we sold the last flagon of wine available this morning.'

'Problem?' Aramis asked over Athos' shoulder.

'There's no wine.' Athos muttered.

Aramis flashed the girl one of his most flirtatious smiles causing her to blush violently. 'Are you sure there is absolutely no wine for my handsome friend here?' He asked sweetly. Athos shot him withering glare.

'Positive monsieur.' The girl spoke to the floor. 'I wish I could give you some but we have literally none to give.'

'Surely you must have something?' Aramis tried giving the flustering maid a suggestive stare.

'What's going on here?' The owner stepped out down from the stairs.

'Ah, the lovely mademoiselle here was just telling us that you had no wine.' Aramis straightened up.

'And she'd be right sirs.' The man said coldly.

'Do you have anything else?' d'Artagnan chipped in unhelpfully.

'I can offer you some excellent food monsieur, better than most of that stuff you'll get in Paris for sure.' Noticing that the owner was closely eyeing Aramis and the bar maid and probably coming up with the wrong idea Athos decided to give up on the wine front.

'We'll take it.' He grumbled.

'Is that all sirs?' The owner asked.

'We need a room for the night and use of your stables too.' Aramis added.

'That'll be fifty sous each.' The owner growled moving behind the bar.

'Fifty!' d'Artagnan cried. 'I don't have half that.'

'Neither do I.' Porthos added sheepishly. Aramis and Athos gave them both a withering glare.

'You need to stop encouraging him to gamble.' Aramis sighed.

In the end Athos and Aramis split the cost between them after extracting promises from both Porthos and d'Artagnan to pay them as soon as they got back to Paris. Athos paid the larger share which only served to make d'Artagnan feel even more embarrassed at not paying his share. Athos did not generally mind too much about bailing out d'Artagnan, he knew that the man had spent the majority of his money paying off the financial debts he had incurred prior to his commission, but Athos also knew that the only reason d'Artagnan was short now was because he'd lost a gambling match after being encouraged by Porthos. He hoped that making d'Artagnan feel a bit bad might put him back on the right track.

The musketeers ate their meal in silence, watching people come and go before they retired to their room. Without his wine Athos was in no mind to sleep and as such had agreed to take the first watch.

Sighing the musketeer looked down through the darkness at what would otherwise have been a pair of well worn boots. To him hindsight was a curse. It only served to better highlight the missions, decisions and actions in which, in either his capacity as a musketeer or man, he had failed. Nothing more. Certainly in his eyes there were many failures to contemplate in the darkness and the number only ever seemed to grow. A noise outside the door to the cellar soon proved a welcome distraction.

'Did you get him?' A voice asked.

'I got one, don't know if it's the right one.' The owner replied.

'Describe him.'

'Why don't you just look yourself?' The owner snapped.

'Because I must not be seen.' The other man hissed. The voice was familiar but the musketeer could not quite place it.

'How long do I have to keep him?' The owner now whined. 'The other's will be back any day and I can't fend off a whole army!'

'The time left will suffice I am sure.' The unknown voice replied smoothly. 'They've already taken the bait.'

The voices faded from coherence. Annoyed the musketeers strained to pick them up again but to no avail. Assuming that by 'they' the other man was referring to the musketeers that left the other questions of why he was down there and who the other man actually was! 'I guess I shall find out soon enough' the musketeer murmured to himself.

Constance sighed as her horse pulled the reins from her grasp in order to snatch another snack yet again. Catherine grinned. 'Show him whose boss.' She chided while trying to supress a smirk.

'I don't need to show it, it already knows.' Constance grumbled.

Catherine sighed and turned her head back to the map. They had travelled roughly seven to eight miles through the cold and bitter air so far with no positive results. The track they treaded was worn with the signs that it had been ridden through recently, but frustratingly there were no tell tale signs of a struggle or skirmish. Catherine was more than prepared to travel all the way to Champagne if it was necessary to hunt down the musketeers, and she had no doubt that Constance shared her resolve, the longer the two women were gone the more trouble they would be on their return and the greater the trouble the musketeers were likely to be sitting in.

Catherine's horse had picked up on her agitation and was tossing his head and pawing the ground every time she stopped to scour the ground.

'I suppose we should be grateful we haven't run into any trouble ourselves yet.' Catherine heard Constance mutter from behind.

'Oh don't worry there's plenty of time for that yet.' She replied unhelpfully as she jumped down to examine a patch of disturbed vegetation.

'What are you looking for exactly?' Constance asked.

'Footsteps with larger than normal gaps between strides indicating someone running, scratches on the trees, discarded shots, even signs of galloping horses…anything.' Catherine ended with a sigh. The vegetation revealed none of what she was looking for yet again.

They carried on like that for another few hours with Constance occasionally getting down to help scour too. Constance was agile but not great at mounting from the ground and Catherine ran the risk of her own horse bolting every time she had to let the reins go to give Constance a leg up.

Darkness began to draw in sooner than both girls would have liked, the already cold temperatures began to spiral rapidly down making riding uncomfortable for both rider and horse.

'Did you bring torches?' Constance asked. 'We're going to need them.'

Catherine cursed silently and shook her head. 'No. Perhaps we should make camp instead and light a fire.'

'Camp out here?' Constance looked more than a little unenthusiastic.

'The horses need heat and so do we.' Catherine reasoned. 'Unless you have a better idea?'

Constance sighed.

'We'll keep going for another half an hour or so and see if we can find a clearing to use.' Catherine looked back towards Constance intending to give her a reassuring smile. Instead she ended up being clouted on the back of her head by a low hanging branch. Constance burst out laughing.

'Ow! For the love of…' Catherine growled rubbing her hair trying to massage out the dull ache.

'Well we've ridden for about seven miles and the funniest thing that's happened so far is that.' Constance mused between chuckles. 'I think things are looking up.'

'Yeah. Right.' Catherine muttered and made a mental note to just keep looking where she was going. 'Wait…Did you just say we've been about seven miles out Paris?'

Constance nodded. 'I think so. D'Artagnan gave me a few tips for working out how many miles you cover while riding. How do you not any?'

'I read maps fairly accurately but I can't calculate distances very accurately.' Catherine explained quickly. 'But that isn't the important point!'

'Then what is?' Constance asked exasperatedly.

'There's an inn off this unused track that's about seven or eight miles out of Paris.'

Constance brightened up considerably. 'How do you know?'

'I used to work there.' Catherine said flatly.

'I thought you worked at a tavern in Paris?' Constance asked curiously.

'Only for about two weeks before I became a lady in waiting to the Queen.' Catherine's voice was cold. 'Prior to that I used to work at Jacques' inn just outside.'

Sensing that Catherine was not up for a detailed conversation on her working history Constance changed her tack. 'Why would anyone build an inn off an unused road? Surely business isn't going to be great?'

'It attracts more customers than you'd expect,' Catherine replied evenly. 'Its the only inn on this part, anyone travelling through if they can't get straight to Paris often stay.'

'Perhaps…' Constance thought aloud. Catherine nodded.

'The chances are slim but not impossible.' She concurred before adding quietly under her breath. 'And I think that tree branch hit me a little harder than I first thought.'

Both women urged their mounts into a trot as the darkness drew in ever further. Sure enough around twenty minutes later they saw torches flickering just ahead through the trees.

Catherine sighed as she watched her old working place come ever closer. She'd hoped never to go back there after moving to Paris and she doubted that Jacques would be all welcoming smiles. Catherine recalled how she hadn't even told him she was leaving she just did, stowing away in the cart of a passing traveller. Constance, who had now pulled up alongside of Catherine, noticed her melancholy expression.

'Is this Jacques going to be welcoming?' She asked.

'He's a slime ball on virtually all counts,' Catherine said bluntly. 'If you've got the money he'll do or sell you anything without asking questions.'

Constance raised her eyebrows. 'That's hardly unusual.' She pointed out. 'He sounds just like any tradesman in Paris.'

'Most men have some morals, he's just a coward.' Catherine snapped.

'Is that why you left?'

Catherine didn't immediately reply and when she eventually spoke it wasn't to answer the question.

'Come on, with any luck he'll be too busy in the back and one of the tavern maid's will serve us instead.'

They approached the stables and heaved their sore figures out of their saddles. As they led both horses into the adjacent stables Catherine stopped dead.

'Hey!' Constance cried as her horse nearly ploughed into the rear of Catherine's. 'What's wrong?'

Catherine turned to look at her with a worried expression.

'Its one of their horses.' She said after a moment.

Constance's eyes widened and she moved to look around Catherine. In one stall near the back there was indeed a jet black horse of the musketeer regiment munching quietly on some hay.

'Do you know which one she belongs too?' Catherine asked Constance.

Constance frowned. 'Both Aramis and d'Artagnan have mare's.' Her voice caught on d'Artagnan's name.

'There's only one here.' Catherine noted, her own worries beginning to increase.

'So then where are the others?' Constance asked, her voice rising in pitch.

'I don't know but let's go and find out.' Catherine said quietly.

They hurriedly untacked their own horses and then made for the inn. Just before they reached the door Catherine pulled Constance aside.

'Remember be on your guard,' she told her in a low voice. 'We're travelling servants who have taken up a position in a new household to the north. Please don't do anything rash.'

'Look whose talking.' Constance snapped.

'Constance please I'm serious!' Catherine shot back. 'I know we can fight but I'd rather not push things that far if we can help it. We're no use to any of them injured, dead or captured!'

Constance sighed. 'Fine. What do you suggest?'

'For a start lets go in and get a room.' Catherine moved around Constance to the door. 'We can snoop around better once we've got reason to be there.'


	12. Chapter 12 - Rescue and Captivity

Chapter 12 - Rescue and Captivity

Hello everyone. Thank you to all of you who are still reading this work. I do hope this chapter will not be too disappointing. As usual I own none of the characters except the OC.

As they both entered the tavern Catherine found the scene to be virtually everything she expected. There were at least a dozen men sat down around the tables which, in the rather dank and cramped space, made the place look far more popular than it actually was. As usual the tapers on the tables for use by the customers were burning low and in desperate need of replacement, while those behind the serving counter were almost new and brightly lit. What did strike Catherine immediately was the realisation that as all the men in the tavern turned their heads too stare at the two women every single one of them seemed perfectly sober. Whats more non of them looked happy about it. Constance obviously felt the palpable tension in the air as she moved closer to Catherine and looked around her warily.

'Gentlemen.' Catherine saluted quietly as she made her way to the serving counter, being careful not to accidentally push or nudge someone. As she approached the counter Catherine heard clinking from behind it and sent up a silent prayer that it was not Jacques she had to deal with.

'What can I get you ladies?' The serving girl asked as she appeared from under the counter much to Catherine's relief.

'A bed for both us and our horses for the night, some food and drink if you will.' Catherine sniffed eyeing her apparently keen, if flustered, replacement. Either she did not really know the temperament of the man she was working for, or she didn't care. 'She's probably too grateful for a job to care,' Catherine remarked silently to herself.

'Ah. Well we have a bed for the night and some food but no wine to drink.' There was something about the cautious and apologetic smile that made Catherine soften her opinions. She guessed that the girl had clearly been subjected too some harsh treatment by the current guests and decided to not to add to her trouble.

'The bedding and food will suffice.' She sniffed.

'That's going to be fifty sous.'

'Each?'

The girl nodded.

Catherine's eyebrows rose. 'So,' she thought 'the miser has decided that extortion is now the way to go. Hmph that won't last, but still he must be desperate to charge that much.'

'I'll give you eighty for both of us and not a sous more.' She replied after a moment. She did not purposefully want to cause trouble but eighty was still forty more than they could really afford. She reached down and produced a purse which she emptied onto the table and subsequently shook once it was emptied as if to demonstrate that was all they had.

The serving girl looked worried. 'The owner won't like it.' She muttered.

'I doubt he'll mind so much as to challenge his guests right now.' Catherine gestured around to the very unhappy lot of men sitting over their plates. The serving girl took the hint and nodded.

'Ok, but please don't go around telling the others.'

'My lips are sealed.' Catherine grimaced, watching the girl's countenance brighten a little. 'Oh,' she added as offhandedly as she could manage 'you've not seen any of the kings musketeers around recently have you? I heard they were passing through and well what can I say a man in uniform…'

The serving girl looked at Catherine, then the floor, then towards the cellar before finally shaking her head. 'No mademoiselle, I havn't seen any.'

'Oh well never mind my friend's company will have to suffice.' Catherine laughed to feign that she didn't really care.

The serving girl said nothing and bent back down to her cleaning.

'She's lying,' Catherine mused with some satisfaction as she went to join Constance.

'Well?' Constance asked quietly.

'There's at least one of them here,' Catherine murmured to her. 'Jacques must be holding him.'

'How do you know that?' Constance asked worriedly.

'Because she's been told to keep her mouth shut.' Catherine's hand gestured languidly to where the serving girl had been stood.

'Right so we need to search the place then.' Constance hissed.

'Not yet.' Catherine murmured. 'We need to wait for this lot to retire and then create a distraction to keep Jacques and her occupied. He always comes down to count the books when the last guests have retired…'

Catherine fell silent as the serving girl came over with their plates of food. It wasn't much to be grateful for. The plate featured bread, cheese and a small bowl of watery soup of an orange complexion indicating it was carrot flavoured. Both of them ate in silence but while Constance polished off the meagre amount, Catherine merely picked at hers with a thoughtful expression.

'Do you think its d'Artagnan?' Constance asked the burning question inside of her when they had finished.

Catherine looked at her, this was something that she too had been pondering since the stables. She was unsure whether the discovery gave her relief or trepidation. The mare suggested either Aramis or d'Artagnan which meant that potentially Athos was either safe or still out there. But then one horse did not have to indicate that Jacques only held one musketeer. He might have all of them and have simply struggled to get rid of all of their horses before the girls arrived. Quite frankly Catherine wasn't sure which option she preferred out of all of them.

'I can't say. It could be either Aramis or d'Artagnan, it could even be all of them.' She answered truthfully.

'But there's only one horse?' Constance inquired.

'Jacques might have been unable to dispose of all of their horses quickly enough.' Catherine pointed out. 'From what you have told me they wouldn't just leave one of their number behind either, its not like them.'

Constance nodded thoughtfully

'So what kind of distraction did you have in mind?' She asked quietly.

'Me.' Catherine replied flatly.

'I thought you didn't want to go near Jacques?'

'I don't plan to go face to face with him unless I have too.' Catherine muttered.

'So that leaves me searching the place then?'

'Yes.'

Catherine had considered doing it the reverse way, after all she had better knowledge of the place. But she didn't know how good Constance was in a fight and Catherine did not want Constance to get shot or badly injured if Jacques caught her. If she was caught there would be room for play, or at least enough of a chance to buy Constance enough time to get out.

Constance looked a little alarmed.

'Don't think about it too much,' Catherine reassured. 'Move quickly and quietly like we are serving the Queen at her garden party. You're there but you aren't meant to be noticed.'

'This place doesn't look that big.' Constance surveyed the room. 'But where do I start?'

'Try the cellar first.' Catherine remembered how the serving girl's eyes had strayed to it at the mention of the musketeers. 'He keeps the key under a loose floorboard next to door on the left.'

'He doesn't wear it?' Constance asked incredulously.

'No.'

'Where is the cellar?'

'Through the door behind the counter on the right.' Catherine said.

'And if there's nothing there?'

'Then try the rooms upstairs, and her quarters which are on the first floor second door on the left hand side.'

Constance nodded while visibly trying to remember Catherine's directions.

'If you run into any trouble,' Catherine warned. 'Then get yourself out do not wait for me.'

'But…'

'No.' Catherine said firmly. 'I don't want you hurt. Think of d'Artagnan.'

Constance looked like she wanted to argue but at the mention of d'Artagnan's name she backed down.

The girls went up to their room on the first floor shortly after. Along with them most of the men had also begun to retire but since a few remained Catherine kept her ear to their door listening to the sounds below. Eventually silence fell.

After another ten minutes or so Catherine heard the tell tale door opening and heavy footsteps descending the stairs. Jacques was right on cue.

'Remember to wait until you see both of them leave the tavern and then come down.' She reminded an anxious Constance, before slipping out of the door wearing one of their darkened window hangings as a cloak.

Catherine descended the stairs quietly keeping to the lengthened shadows courtesy of the stubby table candles.

'Why are we twenty sous short?' Jacques' annoyed voice drifted up to her.

'The women only had eighty on them and I thought eighty was better than nothing.' The serving girl pleaded.

'You should have called me!' Jacques hissed angrily.

'I'm sorry,' the girl flinched and backed away from him.

'You're lucky I like you! But you make damn sure you tell me when they come down in the morning and get it from them, or else I'll be taking it out of your value.' Jacques snarled.

'Yes…' The girl was interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming shut loudly. Both of master and servant turned to look at the door. There was no-one there.

'Probably just the wind.' Jacques shrugged it off and turned back to the girl.

Bang! The door slammed again even harder than last time. Jacques and the girl jumped in surprise.

'Whose out there?' Jacques shouted loudly. 'Ben if that's you again I'll have your hide for shoe leather!'

No response. Cautiously Jacques turned away but this time when the door opened and slammed again he turned on his heel and marched angrily to the door. He flung it wide open and looked outside. As he scanned the darkened surroundings he spotted something moving in the shadows.

'Ben get off with you!' He snarled. 'I've got guests sleeping.'

'Get off with yourself!' A jeering voice sounded. 'After all no-one else will help you!'

'Why you insolent…' Jacques stormed out and began to chase the taunting figure.

The serving girl meanwhile was still inside, she wanted to follow her master but something was telling her to stay there.

After five minutes of looking Constance still had not seen the girl leave but knew she had to make a move now. Catherine couldn't hold him off forever. Cautiously she proceeded down the stairs but saw it was all quiet. 'Maybe she's gone to bed.' Constance thought and hurried behind the counter. As she reached the doorway a hand shot out and grabbed her leg pulling her down.

'Arghh!' She cried as she hit the floor trying to shake the hand off her leg.

'I knew you two were up to no good!' the servant girl cried. 'You wait until I tell the master.'

'Get off me you little..' Constance struggled and kicked out with her other leg. Fortunately for her that leg found its mark. As Constance's shoe collided with the girl's head she felt the hand release her and the heard the sound of groaning. Acting fast and almost without thinking Constance felt around for a goblet which she then brought smashing down on the struggling form in front of her. The girl slumped to ground and silence descended. Constance paused panting. What if someone above had heard that?

After regaining her breath Constance listened closely but was met with only silence. Sending up a prayer Constance got to her feet and hurried through the darkened door to the right. She pressed her feet down on the floorboards to the left of it and was rewarded by a creaking sound, indicating a hollow gap below. Fumbling around in the darkness Constance broke at least two nails dragging up the floorboard. Thankfully the key was right where Catherine had said it would be.

Constance felt the door for a keyhole and unlocked the door to yet more darkness.

'Hello, hello?' She called down into the darkness. 'Anyone there?'

'Madame Bonacieux?' A smooth voice replied.

'D'Artagnan?' Constance cried.

'I'm afraid not.' The voice replied.

'Athos?' Constance asked trying to mask her disappointment and confusion.

'Yes unfortunately so. What are you doing here Madame Bonacieux?'

'Hold on.' Constance said. 'I need to find a light.'

She moved back through to the serving counter with caution, half expecting to find the serving girl jump out at her again. The girl was still in a heap where she had fallen so Constance grabbed a long taper from the bar and struck it into life.

Now armed with a light Constance turned to go back to Athos but found he had already beaten her to it.

'What…he didn't chain you up or anything?' She asked eyeing the bedraggled man now in front of her.

'The door only unlocks from the outside.' Athos said bluntly.

The light from the single taper cast a dreary glow over the musketeer's sallow face. He hadn't been kept well that was evident, but he seemed physically unharmed Constance noted quickly. Athos avoided Constance's gaze and cast his eyes around spotting the heap on the floor.

'So that was the scuffle I heard.' He mused and Constance thought she saw a dull gleam of appraisal in his dark eyes. She shrugged and looked at the ground.

'What are you doing here?' Athos repeated in a tired voice.

'Looking for you lot?' Constance huffed.

'By yourself?' Athos raised an eyebrow and then, remembering how Constance had called out d'Artagnan's name, asked. 'Has something happened to d'Artagnan and the others?'

'I was hoping you could tell me.' Constance replied. 'Where are they?'

'They were supposed to go back to Paris.' Athos muttered.

'None of you came back though, why do you think we came looking?' Constance cried.

'We?' Athos asked suddenly more alert. 'Who else is…'

He never got to finish his sentence as at that moment the sound of a gun cocked through the air. Both Constance and Athos turned to see that Jacques had returned and was pointing his gun straight at them. Constance let out a shriek and Athos looked to see that Jacques was not alone. Behind him he dragged a bleeding bundle on the floor.

'Catherine!' Constance cried out.

Athos looked from Constance to the bundle and his eye's widened in horror.


	13. Chapter 13 - Illumination

Chapter 13 - Illumination.

Hello to all my readers, many thanks for continuing to read this story and my sincere apologies for the lateness of the update owing to a series of unpreventable events. As usual I own non of the characters except the OC.

Aramis, d'Artagnan and Porthos were physically and mentally exhausted upon their arrival into the musketeer's garrison. But they all knew that there would be no time for rest. As all three men dismounted Captain Treville emerged from his office having heard the horses arrival.

'Where in God's name have you been?!' Treville thundered down to the silent men below who looked at each other assessing who would have the dreaded honour of reporting the bad news.

'Where is Athos?' Treville asked his voice strained. He watched as the men's disenchanted expressions turned darker still.

In the end it was Porthos who decided to bite the bullet. He recounted in a rush the safe journey to Champagne and success of the actual mission before more slowly recalling how Aramis' horse had gone badly lame which forced them to stop at the inn which led to Athos' disappearance. As he continued Porthos' voice became colder and laced with more worry.

'Do you believe the owner has him?' Treville inquired when Porthos finally finished speaking.

'Probably.' Aramis spoke. 'But we can't be sure. None of us saw exactly what happened.'

'He certainly didn't go of his own accord.' D'Artagnan muttered. 'Bazajet was still in the stables, Athos wouldn't have travelled without him.'

'We came to get back up,' Aramis cast a glance around the empty barracks. 'But apparently that isn't going to happen.'

'I sent the regiment out after you!' Treville cried rubbing his forehead fervently. 'You had been missing for two days!'

'So there's no-one here at all?' D'Artagnan groaned.

'No-one but myself, the cook and the stable boy.' Treville said between gritted teeth.

'We need to get back.' Porthos sent a look to Aramis who nodded.

'I would come with you,' Treville said despondently. 'But I can't leave the garrison completely unmanned. If the King should require…' He trailed off seeing the expressions on the face's of his men. Aramis gave him one of his more colder glares, d'Artagnan looked desperate and Porthos' eyes betrayed his anger. Treville understood why all too well. When Queen Anne had been besieged at the convent Treville had left the garrison unmanned to rescue her, but now it seemed that since it was only Athos in trouble the Captain was not prepared to give the same courtesy. Treville valued Athos highly, he was the best solider in the regiment and a good man through and through. But Treville also had to consider that if the King should require the musketeer's services someone had to remain behind. When Treville had sent the regiment out after the four men he had prayed that Louis didn't want to go hunting or had planned a parade which required a musketeer escort. He trusted Aramis, Porthos and d'Artagnan to find Athos successfully but that didn't make his apparent lack of enthusiasm to help them any less of a blow. All they would see was a man betraying one his own in need.

'Come on,' Aramis said. 'We need to go now.'

Porthos grunted and d'Artagnan nodded slowly.

'Send word when you have found him and I'll send the regiment if need be.' Treville called as the three men jumped back on board their tired horses.

Aramis nodded by means of reply and the three men rode back out into the night.

The plan had been a good one. Well at least up until now. Catherine cursed again as she tripped over yet another tree root. The game was simple by design, keep Jacques and the girl on her trail long enough for Constance to search the tavern, but now she was in the open forest maintaining Jacques' attention was going to get much harder.

Occasionally she would call out another jibe to the darkness around her and listen intently for the sound of his footsteps drawing near before she increased the distance between them. Now Catherine was no longer sure that Jacques was even following her or if he was exactly how close or distant he was. Slumping against the bark of another tree Catherine paused and listened as hard as she could for breaking twigs or shuffling feet, but none came to her ears. As she listened another thought came to her mind. The serving girl apparently had not followed Jacques as she had hoped. There had only been one set of footsteps following her earlier, of that she was sure. 'Damn it!' Catherine cursed again to the darkness. Now she would probably go back and find she needed to rescue Constance as well as herself.

The sound of a snapped twig caught her attention and she straightened immediately. 'Jacques,' she thought.

'Come on you old goat!' she crowed. 'Couldn't catch a rat you couldn't?'

There was a slight pause followed by the sound of thumping and crunching heading in her direction. Catherine jumped back in alarm, those were not footsteps. They were hoof beats. 'Dear God who else have I attracted!' She cried in alarm and set off blindly through the forest at a run.

She didn't get very far. The horses and their men were on her before she'd even managed to cover half the ground back to the tavern. Catherine yelped as one rider's boot successfully found it's way into her back and sent her flying forwards. She recovered quickly and reached to draw the sword beneath her skirts, but not quickly enough.

'Surrender or die!' A cold but somewhat familiar voice cut simultaneously into her ear as the end of the pistol connected with the back of her head.

'D'Artagnan?!' Catherine asked startled.

'How do you know my name?'

'Take the pistol away from my head and I'll show you.' Catherine replied calmly.

There was a slight pause and then Catherine felt the pressure at the back of her head withdraw. She turned around and pulled her hood down to meet the incredulous stares of Porthos, Aramis and d'Artagnan.

'Lady Catherine? What are you doing here?' D'Artagnan asked his eyebrows almost disappearing his hairline.

'The same as you I expect.' Catherine answered heavily. Her mind quickly assessing the situation in front of her. D'Artagnan, Aramis and Porthos were all there, which accounted for the only musketeer horse in the stable. Their very presence only served to reinforce the logical assumption that the musketeer they had come back for was Athos. 'Well at least Constance will be relieved.' Catherine said to herself.

'What does Constance have to do with any of this?' D'Artagnan inquired his voice becoming hard.

Catherine started realising that she must have thought the last point out loud.

'She came with me, looking for you.' She said after a moment's pause.

'So are we to understand that you and Madame Bonacieux have defied the order's of the Queen, left your posts, travelled out here on your own looking for us?' Porthos asked with a slight air of disbelief.

Catherine nodded awkwardly. 'That's about the sum of it.'

Aramis let out another chuckle.

'Catherine where is Constance?' D'Artagnan pressed.

'Back at the inn.' Catherine replied her mind jolting back to the realisation that by now Jacques must have gone back. 'I need to get back there now!'

She turned to go but the worry in her voice caused d'Artagnan to pull her back.

'Is she in trouble? Is that why you're out here?' He asked.

'She _will _be in trouble if you don't let me go _now_!' Catherine cried trying to throw him off.

'We'll all go back!' Aramis chimed in. 'You can't go back there on your own if there's trouble.'

'I can handle myself!' Catherine snapped at him.

'If Constance is in there then you are _not_ going back alone.' D'Artagnan snarled with such ferocity that Catherine stopped struggling. 'He's angry with me,' she realised looking at his expression. 'He thinks I've put Constance in danger,' Then another voice in her head reprimanded 'well it was you let her come in the first place, it was you left alone to search the tavern, you are the one who now has left her to Jacques non-existent mercy. It is your fault!'

'You don't understand.' Catherine's voice rasped to d'Artagnan. 'Jacques is more dangerous than he looks but I know how to get around him. I know how he is likely to react. I can get Constance and Athos out.'

'Oh yeah, how?' Porthos asked.

Catherine sighed. 'I used to work for him.'

'What as?' D'Artagnan asked, a slight hint of accusation in his voice.

'The tavern serving maid nothing more!' Catherine's eye's flashed.

'Enough d'Artagnan.' Aramis had dismounted and put his hand reassuringly on his brother's shoulder. 'Wild accusations won't help matters. Remember your head over heart will keep you alive not the other way around.'

D'Artagnan heard the echo of Athos' voice with Aramis' words and let go of Catherine's arm. There was an uneasy silence.

'So how did you plan to get them out?' Porthos asked Catherine again.

'Jacques knows me. I will go back and draw him away as a distraction. I'll get rid of him quietly enough and that only leaves the serving girl to deal with but she's not exactly skilled by the look of her. With some luck Constance might have found Athos as well…or at least she'll be held in the same place he will be.'

Aramis looked calculatingly at her. 'There's only the two of them?'

'And a tavern full of guests all upset about the lack of wine,' Catherine added. 'Which is why I should go alone. If you all storm the place they'll be hell to pay and more risk to Athos and Constance.'

'How do you know he'll take you as bait?' Porthos asked.

'Because he has a bone to pick with me anyway.'

'Why?'

'Because I left him in the lurch and because I know things about his dealings…things he would rather no-one outside of his control have knowledge of.'

'This isn't the first time he's done this is it?' Aramis asked.

'It is the first time he's kidnapped someone yes.' Catherine said quietly. 'But he's been party to many other dealings all of them highly illegal.'

'Its risky.' Aramis said coldly.

'I've told you, storming the place will only put them in more danger.' Catherine pleaded.

D'Artagnan sniffed. 'And what happens if you fail?'

'Yeah,' Porthos added. 'Besides we've taken on worse than a bunch of sour faced imbeciles.'

Catherine was about to protest when Aramis held up his hand.

'Its a good plan,' he said. 'But _only_ if it works. May I propose something a little more advanced in order to be secure?'

Catherine nodded.

'Excellent then this is what we shall do…'

Catherine and Porthos hurriedly made their way back through the trees towards the tavern as silently as possible. As they neared the edge of the clearing Catherine saw to her relief that Jacques was raking his way through the stables no doubt searching to see if 'Ben' had doubled back.

'All seems well so far,' Porthos murmured but Catherine sensed his agitation and turned to face him.

'I know you probably won't believe this Porthos but I never wanted Constance to get involved in this,' She whispered hoarsely. 'I didn't tell her I was going, she guessed and wouldn't take no for an answer. She thought d'Artagnan was in trouble...' Porthos held up his hand to silence her.

'While I should have guessed that you would do something like this and I understand why you have done it, you have made a huge mistake coming here.' Porthos said firmly. 'Let's just hope that Athos and Constance aren't the one's to pay for it.'

With that he gave her a nod, flexed his fingers and crept towards the stable doors.

Catherine wasn't exactly sure whether to consider that last statement was a denouncement of forgiveness or not from the musketeer, but there was little time to consider that now. The others would already be in place. Catherine took a breath and Porthos in the shadows towards the stables.

Once they were just beyond the door Porthos turned to face her with a serious look in his eyes. 'You sure your alright with this?' He asked.

Catherine sniffed and then nodded. Whether she really was or not was hardly debatable now the plan was set.

Porthos nodded abruptly. 'Close your eyes it will make it easier.' He advised.

Catherine grimaced but turned away from him and shut her eyes tight.

Jacques was still rummaging around inside muttering angrily when he heard a loud thunk come from the entrance. He stuck his head outside and started at the bundle on the floor. Looking both left and right he saw that the coast was clear. Jacques crept forwards and turned the body over. On seeing the person wrapped up in the cloak a glint of satisfaction seeped into his eyes.

'Well, well,' he murmured. 'What have we got here?'

Neither Constance nor Athos moved. Jacques' hold on the pistol was tight and he was blocking the only available exit.

'I should have guessed that she wouldn't have come alone.' Jacques sneered.

'What have you done to her!' Constance cried out looking at the unmoving bundle in horror.

'What I should have done before she decided to betray me like that.' Jacques replied angrily. 'Where's Elisabeta?' He asked.

Constance pointed to the floor next to her. Jacques sniffed. 'Hmph she never was that bright anyway.' He turned to Athos. 'So you finally got out then I see.'

'Let her go.'

'I'm sorry?' Jacques said.

'Let her go.'

'Now why would I do that?' Jacques asked with mocking concern.

'Let her go and I won't kill you.' Athos said as calmly as if he were discussing the weather.

Something about his tone made Jacques' blood run cold and for a brief moment his eyes betrayed his fear of the man in front of him.

After a moment he spoke again. 'Hmmm I think not. No. You will go back to the cellar without a fuss or else I'll shoot her as well as your friend here.'

Constance froze but Athos remained motionless. 'I will only tell you once more. Let. her. go.'

'Fine if you want to do this the hard way then we shall.' He turned the pistol towards Constance.

'Now, now,' A voice spoke from the top of the stairs. 'I really wouldn't do that if I were you. Our friend might get a little bit upset.'

Jacques' head whirled around but the pistol remained steady.

'Yeah not to mention the mess you'll make.' Another disembodied voice sounded from the right. 'Think of the cleaning bill.'

'Who are you?' Jacques demanded.

'What you don't recognise us?' The voice sounded from the top of the stairs. 'Porthos my friend I think my feelings are hurt.'

'Hmmm we can't be having that now can we.' Porthos replied advancing forwards.

'One more step and she dies.' Jacques cried, finger tightening on the trigger pointed towards Constance.

'Put it down.' A third voice directly behind Jacques spoke just as d'Artagnan's pistol found its way into the crack of Jacques skull.

'D'Artagnan?' Constance cried with relief.

Jacques froze. 'You'd better do as he says.' Aramis advised as he came down the stairs with a casual smile on his face. D'Artganan applied more pressure to the pistol and Jacques slowly lowered his own.

'Good!' Now let's sort this out like gentlemen shall we?' Aramis asked removing the pistol from Jacques. Porthos moved forwards and took the bundle out of Jacques arms while Constance moved from behind the bar to hug d'Artagnan. Athos remained stationary.

'Sit down monsieur,' Aramis said. 'We have a few questions for you before we all leave.' Jacques did not move. Aramis sighed and nodded to Porthos who steered Jacques to a chair and pushed him into it.

'We'll keep it short and simple.' Aramis said taking a seat himself.

'Do we have to?' Porthos asked.

'Come now Porthos you don't want to keep everyone from their breakfast do you? Dawn will be here soon.' Aramis asked pleasantly. Porthos grumbled and turned back to tend to Catherine.

'Now monsieur Jacques I think it is, what exactly did you want with our friend here?'

Nothing.

'Let me rephrase that, why did you drug our food and kidnap that gentleman over there? Was it for money?'

Nothing.

Aramis sighed. 'Porthos a little help please.' He said.

At the sight of Porthos advancing on him Jacques suddenly found his tongue.

'It wasn't me! It wasn't me!' He cried. 'Someone else wanted me to keep him I don't know why!'

'Who was this someone?' Aramis asked.

'I don't know his name.' Aramis raised an eyebrow. 'He never gave me it I swear on my mother's grave!' Jacques pleaded. 'He just asked me to keep him here until he said to let him go. I don't know anything else I swear it!'

D'Artagnan and Porthos both looked unconvinced. 'We should bring him with us to Treville and the King.' D'Artagnan said.

'No! No please! I swear that's all I know! I won't bother you gentlemen again, you'll never hear from me again I give you my word.'

'Apparently that's worthless.' Porthos muttered indicating towards Catherine.

'Please!' Jacques cried.

'Athos?' Aramis asked turning to face the musketeer who had remained stood behind the bar.

Athos said nothing for a moment and then shrugged. 'The law is the law.'

'Porthos if you will?' Aramis smiled and Porthos grinned.

Jacques tried to get up and run but to no avail, Porthos was on him before he made it to the door. One punch was all it took to knock the idiot out cold.

A groan from behind the bar startled everyone but Athos who looked down to see Elisabeta moving slowly on the ground.

'Come on!' D'Artagnan said. 'Let's get out of here.'

'Do we have enough horses?' Constance asked.

'Should do and that reminds me I need to check on my horse!' Aramis clapped his hat back on his head and strode outside.

It took a further twenty minutes for everyone to saddle up. Constance rode with d'Artagnan which allowed Aramis to ride her horse since his own mare was still limping. Porthos rode with the unconscious Jacques on Catherine's horse in order to give his own a much needed break and Athos mounted up onto Bazajet, whom Aramis had borrowed, with the unconscious Catherine.

'Sorry about that.' Porthos muttered sheepishly as he lifted her up to Athos once he had settled into his saddle. 'Was her idea.'

Athos shook his head and urged Bazajet into a walk.

Constance, d'Artagnan, Aramis and Porthos all looked at each other and sighed. The fallout from this was going to be interesting to say the least.

As the troupe moved off they failed to notice that someone was watching them from the forest just beyond the inn. The man smiled to himself and tucked his spyglass away. Things were all going exactly according to plan.


	14. Chapter 14 - Fall Out

Chapter 14 - Fall Out.

Hi readers I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I own none of the characters except the OC.

Catherine came back to consciousness gradually, something which she was rather grateful for. The dull sounds around her of twigs snapping and a regular beating rhythm were the first things to come back to her. Gradually the dull sounds became louder and sharper accompanied by the recognition that she was moving although obviously not of her own accord. Despite the motion Catherine had to admit she felt warm and surprisingly safe, a rather odd sensation given the fact she had no real idea where she was. Eventually Catherine opened her heavy eye lids a crack just enough to allow the faintest of light traces to enter. She regretted the action instantly. As soon as her neuronal senses were stung by the light the pain behind her eyes became suddenly very prominent. If she could have found her voice Catherine would have yelped with the pain. When she'd agreed to let Porthos knock her out, to create a distraction for Jacques, she had been under no illusion that there would be pain when she woke up. Unfortunately she rather underestimated how much pain she would be in. Porthos had said he would be a gentle as he could get away with but then Porthos probably didn't know his own strength Catherine growled to herself.

Whatever Catherine was feeling at the particular moment must have been somewhat visible on her face since the rocking motion ceased.

'What is it?' A voice asked from somewhere behind her.

'I think she's waking up.'

The deep dulcet tone of the man's voice and its closeness sent shockwaves through Catherine whose senses became instantly alert. That voice only belonged to one man. Athos.

Judging by the loudness of his voice he must be right next to her. The realisation jolted Catherine who opened her eyes and tried to move at the same time, something which turned out to be a huge mistake. As an almighty wave of pain shot through her head she swayed violently to the left side only to find something blocking her fall.

'Easy, easy,' Athos' voice commanded. 'Your safe, just breathe.'

Catherine was still failing around trying to get a grip and steady herself. The world was still a blur and she couldn't yet understand why she felt like she was going to fall off something but wasn't. As she needlessly tried to rebalance herself her stomach turned over and she felt hot bile rise up her throat.

'Nice.' Another voice commented from behind her.

'Yeah, nothing says romance like retching on someone.' Another voice that seemed to vaguely resemble that of Porthos laughed in the distance.

As Catherine continued to cough she felt a strong barrier around her the waist and another patting her back slowly.

'Breathe.' Athos commanded more forcefully than before.

'I think this might be a cue to set up camp.' Aramis' voice drifted into recognition.

'I'll go and get some water.' Constance said. At the sound of Constance's voice Catherine's mind flashed back to its last memory that she had left Constance in danger in the tavern. Once again she tried to struggle out of the grip holding her. She had to save Constance and Athos.

'Will you please stop struggling.' Athos grunted above her head.

As Athos spoke Catherine's mind raced to catch up to the present. If Constance had gone to fetch water and Athos evidently seemed to be holding her then they must be both be ok. She'd recognised Porthos and Aramis' voices which meant they were safe and that meant d'Artagnan was also likely to be safe as well.

Momentarily Catherine felt Athos' grip around her weaken and let out a cry half strangled by the coughing.

'I've got her don't worry.' Porthos' voice sounded much closer now.

Catherine felt the barrier behind her slide away as Athos dismounted from Bazajet to help lower her to ground.

'This is your fault,' she heard him mutter angrily.

'It was her idea.' Porthos grunted.

'And you couldn't have come up with a better way to create a distraction?' Athos demanded hotly.

'It was the more fool proof way.' Aramis called from where he was trying up his and Catherine's horses.

'Besides its not as bad as it looks,' Porthos added. 'I made it look worse using some blood from the chickens.'

'I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that!'

'Well there's no use arguing about it now.' D'Artagnan's voice sounded. 'It's done.'

Athos growled something unintelligible under his breath but dropped the topic.

'Get some wood d'Artagnan.' He said. 'Aramis get something to eat since I don't suppose you brought supplies.'

'We didn't.' Aramis admitted. 'But they seemed to have.'

'Anything good?' Porthos asked.

'Not much just bread and cheese.'

'It'll do.' Athos said bluntly. 'Share it out between us if there's enough.'

'I've got the water.' Constance called.

There was the momentary clatter of pots and bags being dropped on the ground before Catherine felt a hand prop her head up and something cold against her lips.

'Drink.' A fuzzy looking Athos said quietly.

Catherine managed a few mouthfuls and as she settled down the world drifted into its usual focus. Aramis, Porthos and d'Artagnan were sat stoking a small fire, Constance was knelt down on Catherine's left and Athos was lent on a tree to her right, both were watching her intently.

'How are you feeling?' Constance asked pushing her hand against Catherine's forehead.

'Fine.' Catherine croaked. Athos snorted and Catherine looked at him. Granted it was a lie but at the same time it was much easier to just say she was fine rather than complain.

'Hmm,' Constance murmured. 'You've taken quite a knock on the head. That will bruise for weeks.'

'Its not that bad!' Porthos cried yet again.

'Shut up Porthos.' Athos snapped a little more harshly than he had intended too.

'Athos don't.' Catherine sighed. 'He did what he had to.'

Athos turned his hard gaze back to her. 'And what did I say to you about not acting rashly. I suppose this was all your idea?' His voice was calm but there was an edge to it that suggested it was more of a forced calm than anything else.

'Not entirely!' Constance snapped at him. 'Most people would be grateful that someone came looking for them when they're in trouble!'

'But you put yourself in danger!' d'Artagnan cried.

'Oh be quiet! How many times do I have to tell you I want to be treated as an equal?'

'That's got nothing to do with it.' d'Artagnan protested.

'Doesn't it?' Constance challenged. 'When are you going to start letting me care about you as you do me?'

D'Artagnan opened his mouth to reply but found nothing to say to her words. Instead he dropped his head sheepishly and went back to picking at his bread and cheese.

'One thing puzzles me.' Aramis spoke up and everyone turned to look at him. 'How did you two get leave from the Queen to come and find us?'

Now it was Constance's turn to look sheepish while Catherine found something very interesting on the floor to occupy her attention.

'You didn't get leave did you?' Athos asked, the anger beginning to build behind his words.

'Not exac…well…no.' Constance finally admitted.

The three men around the fire shared a disparaging look, Athos pushed himself off the tree and stomped off into the darkness.

'Give him time,' Porthos advised. 'He needs to calm down a little.'

'Is he always this short tempered?' Catherine asked after a few moments of silence.

'When he's upset then yes.' Aramis sighed. 'Don't worry he'll come back soon.'

Aramis, d'Artagnan and Constance settled down to rest by the fire with Porthos keeping the first watch. Catherine should have gone to sleep but she couldn't help worrying about Athos.

'He'll be fine.' Porthos reassured evidently reading her mind. 'Usually he just drinks when he gets like this, but there's no wine out here.'

Catherine looked at the tall musketeer and gave a small unconvinced smile.

'He drinks a lot then?'

Porthos' face demonstrated that he was evidently trying to see if there was any possible way to describe Athos' drinking habits but if there was he certainly couldn't see it.

Catherine looked at the floor, unsure of what to make of the implicit confession. Athos didn't seem like a drunk to her, but then how well did she really know him?

After a few minutes of silence Porthos looked up and spoke again.

'Its not that bad is it?' He asked hesitantly.

Catherine smiled at him.

'No its fine Porthos, really.' She insisted. 'Its… all fine.'

'Forgive me?'

'There is nothing to forgive Porthos.' Catherine gave a lop sided smile.

At that moment, and true to Aramis' word, Athos returned looking tired but decidedly more calmer. He did not miss the way a spark appeared to illuminate itself in Catherine's eyes as he walked back into camp. But he wasn't quite ready to forgive her yet.

Athos fixed Porthos with an apologetic look 'Get some rest Porthos,' he said quietly. 'I'll keep watch.'

Porthos nodded, a clear indication that he accepted the apology and went to settle down by Aramis and d'Artagnan. Athos in his turn settled down next to Catherine, his back slumped against the same tree.

The pair of them waited until the sound of Porthos' snores joined that of his brothers before Athos spoke.

'Why?'

'Why what?' Catherine asked.

'Don't play the fool,' Athos said coldly. 'It doesn't suit you.'

Catherine looked at the still blazing fire. 'You all went missing and Constance was worried about d'Artagnan.'

'But the idea was yours?'

'What makes you say that?' she asked.

'I admire Constance but I do not think she would shirk her duties to the Queen to come looking for us.' Athos mused.

Catherine didn't answer. Athos sighed and pulled his hat off his head.

'I'm trying to be patient here.' He said. 'But you're not making it easy.'

'Should I be?' Catherine smiled faintly.

Athos tried again. 'Why did you come?'

'You already know the answer.' Catherine said quietly. 'I came looking for you for the same reason you came to apologise to me and insisted on staying with me when I was ill.'

It was the closest she was going to get to saying she had some feelings for him. Something inside of her knew that perhaps so bold an assertion was not a good idea but she was too tired and sore to care much about the politics of courtship.

Athos sighed and put his head in his hands. He understood the assertion implicit within Catherine's statement all too well and if he was to be brutally honest with himself he would have to admit he felt the same about her. But Athos was not ready to admit to himself, let alone out loud, that Catherine infuriated his entire being in virtually every sense of the word. There were after all so many negative points to consider. Athos hardly knew Catherine and she hardly knew him. Catherine had to be at least ten years his junior if not slightly more and, although such matches were far from uncommon in seventeenth century Paris, Athos had never considered himself as one of those types of gentlemen. But even worse was the fact that after his wife Anne, Athos had sworn he was done with romance and women for the remainder of his life. Athos only had to look at Catherine to know that as of yet she carried no baggage in that aspect of life while he, on the other hand, had to drink just to keep going under the weight of his own. Things had gotten easier after he disposed of Anne's locket but Athos found that when he thought about Catherine he could not stop the flood of torturous memories. The more Athos pondered the situation the more convinced he became that he was the last man in the world who could ever make Catherine happy.

'What are you thinking?' Catherine's voice jilted him out of his reverie.

'Perhaps you misunderstood my actions,' Athos began, feeling a deep knot beginning to tighten around his heart. 'I came to apologise to you because, as you so blatantly pointed out, my behaviour as a gentleman was unseemly. When you passed out so carelessly on the floor it would have been unfitting for me to just leave you there so I did my duty and carried you to your rooms.'

'You did not have to carry me yourself nor did you have to stay with me.' Catherine pointed out, more to herself than to Athos.

'I thought if I did I could somewhat redeem my reputation.' Athos said doing his best to keep his voice cold. 'This is for the best,' he kept on telling himself. 'Make her reassume her original opinions about you and she'll want nothing more to do with you.' But Athos was to be surprised by Catherine's tenacity.

'Why are you being like this?' She asked after a moment. 'You expect me to be honest with you and yet you can't be honest with me.'

'I am being honest with you.' Athos said plainly.

Catherine snorted and turned onto her left side. 'Continue to lie to yourself all you want then Athos. At least that way I can continue do the same.'

'You are thoroughly mistaken.' Athos tried harder this time. 'If you think I would ever allow myself to become close to such a naïve and careless little girl.'

Catherine turned back over and looked him dead in the eye. 'And you are mistaken if you think I would ever allow my feelings to be dictated to by a scared drunk.' She snapped.

Their eyes remained locked on each others as both sought for dominance over the other. Catherine could read the lie in Athos' eyes as much as he could read her feelings for him in hers. Eventually Athos turned away to stare at his sleeping companions. Athos realised that he envied them on so many levels.

He started when he felt a soft hand curl around his own.

'If it helps I'm scared too.' Catherine said softly and as much as he tried Athos couldn't avoid looking at her eyes as she spoke. 'I know that I would have come looking for you whether Constance had chosen to accompany me or not. I feared that something terrible had happened to you and for some strange reason that thought strikes the fear of God in me. My uncle taught me how to conquer fear using a blade but he never taught me how to deal with whatever this is. I would rather take on the whole company of musketeers single handed than have to deal with this.'

Suddenly Catherine remembered her duel with poor Davide at the garrison. She recalled her brief elation at winning and the release from the stress and tensions that she had felt after coming to Paris. Furthermore she remembered her uncle training her that duelling was a language of swords and people. Duelling was also a language that both her and Athos understood as a common ground. Maybe just maybe a duel or fencing match would be a way forward.

Catherine looked up once more to find Athos staring intently at her. Despite the pain in her head Catherine narrowed her eyes mischievously.

'I might just have come up with the way to resolve this.' she grinned.

'Oh and what might that be?' Athos raised his eyebrows at the turn around.

'A duel.'

'Excuse me?' Athos asked incredulously.

'You heard me.' Catherine raised her eyebrows suggestively.

'Have you taken complete leave of your senses?' Athos snapped.

'No, hear me out. We seem to have effectively established that neither of us is particularly good at expressing ourselves clearly by words so lets communicate with each other in a language that we both understand - the sword.'

'I'm not duelling you!' Athos snapped.

'Why are you scared you'll lose?' Catherine teased.

'No because its a preposterous idea!' Athos retorted turning slightly pink.

'Is it though?'

'Yes! You have a head injury for a start, second you're a woman and soldiers don't…'

Athos never got to the end of his sentence because Catherine had taken one of Athos's gloves and slapped him across the face with it.

'Remember what I did to the last man who thought I couldn't fight because I was a woman!' She warned, half hoping the slap would be enough to push Athos over the edge.

Athos rubbed his jaw, snatched the glove out of her hand and stood up abruptly.

'I wasn't implying that you couldn't fight because you were a woman, I was going to say that I could not fight you under the rules of chivalric soldiery! Now I am going to take that outburst as a result of your recent injury and advise you to stop before you really go too far.' Athos' voice had gone dangerously cold and with the last statement he turned and stalked off.

Catherine was still incredibly sore but she was not about to give up now that there was finally some fire in the man's countenance. Pulling herself up and biting back the pain in her head she stumbled after him.

'What's the matter Athos I just slapped you in the face are you scared to defend your honour against an equal?' She hissed at the retreating figure. Athos stopped dead but did not turn.

'Go back to the camp now.' He said darkly.

'No!' Catherine snapped defiantly. 'For somebody who professes to love his honour so much you have a funny way of defending it.'

'Leave NOW!' Athos growled.

'So someone slaps you in face and challenges you to a duel and you walk away,' Catherine jeered. 'I do believe that makes you a coward in the eyes of your precious code.'

She had said enough. Athos lunged at her with his rapier drawn so fast that Catherine barely had time to draw her own from its hiding place under her outer skirt. She did not give Athos time to deliberate on what he had just done and lunged at him. Steel met steel with a fierce clash. Catherine had expected Athos to attack driven by anger at her statement, but was surprised to find that his eyes were cool and calculating. Both combatants separated and began to circle around the other _en guarde_. Catherine attacked Athos again trying as always to assess her opponent for weaknesses. She quickly found that he matched her perfectly on agility, speed and precision but that he was physically stronger than her and slightly better balanced, something which Catherine attributed to his many years of practice. While Athos favoured the right Catherine also noted he was strong on the left. He was flexible but not as flexible as she was.

As fast as Catherine learned about Athos so he learned about her. Like him she had ample ability to remain cool and calm which she edged with agility and precision of touch. She was not as balanced on the left as she was on the right and was definitely not stronger than he in any stance. While her youth shone through her tactics all too clearly as surprising maturity was embodied by her finesse and general skill. She was a good opponent, certainly as good as d'Artagnan who was still learning under him and that was saying a lot.

They continued to fight each other for at least two minutes a long time considering most duels were over in under a minute. The parries echoed their frustration, the lunges their determination to make the other back down. The sounds of clashing swords had of course woken the others by the fire who had rushed up to see what was happening and now watched with great interest the pair tackle each other.

It had to end eventually. And it did with a draw. Athos brought his rapier to Catherine's stomach but failed to stop her blade prodding his right side.

'Seems like we are both matched and both dead.' Catherine said breathlessly.

Athos paused for a moment also breathing heavily and then lowered his sword. Catherine followed suit.

'And you lectured me on injuring her.' Porthos guffawed from the side.

'She asked for it.' Athos snapped.

'She's better than I thought.' Aramis teased. 'I can't remember the last time someone drew against you Athos.'

'We should get on the road lest the Captain send the whole blasted regiment after us.' Athos growled as he sheathed his blade. 'D'Artagnan get the horses ready.'

'Its too dark to go anywhere yet.' Constance protested failing to hide her smile at Athos' evident discomfort.

'It will be dawn soon. D'Artagnan please get the horses ready.' Athos repeated stalking back off to the camp site wiping his forehead as he went.

Catherine watched him go her own head pounding miserably. The fight hadn't quite had the reaction she had hoped for. Instead of easing the friction between them it only seemed to have increased it. Sighing she sheathed her own blade back beneath her skirts. Could she possibly have made the situation any worse?


	15. Chapter 15 - Arrival

Chapter 15 - Arrival.

Hello everyone, my apologies for the late reply. I have needed a break from writing and figured it was better to take one and write a better chapter, than to rush one and produce it as not so good a quality. All of the characters, except the OC, belong to Alexandre Dumas and the BBC.

As Athos had demanded the six of them all packed up and set off back to Paris. Catherine found it strange that while Athos clearly seemed to dislike her company at the present moment, he insisted that she continue to ride with him. His excuse, that Aramis' horse was still lame, was poor but it was undeniable since the mare was in fact still lame. Despite the awkwardness between the pair Catherine could not deny that she felt safe and comfortable surrounded by Athos' arms, it was enough to at least allow her to sleep for an hour or so. But with the dawn and Paris coming back into sight Catherine began to feel her stomach gradually sinking and accompanying her aching head. While Athos, Aramis, Porthos and d'Artagnan were probably riding back to a sharp rebuking from Treville, that was the most they were likely to get. On par their reception was going to be nothing compared to the fallout that undoubtedly lay in store for Constance and herself on their arrival back at the palace.

Athos evidently seemed to sense Catherine's growing unease because he wrapped his arms tighter around her in as close an act of reassurance as she was likely to get at this stage.

Aramis, who had been riding Catherine's horse just behind them, pulled up alongside them.

'It won't be as bad as you think.' He said gently. 'The Queen is a merciful and wise woman.'

Catherine snorted a little. 'That hardly changes the fact that we left the palace and our duties without her mission. We left her without even giving her any warning whatsoever.'

'When the situation is explained to her she will understand.' Aramis said firmly.

'If you abandoned your duty would you expect Treville to be so understanding?' Catherine asked him directly.

Aramis shared a wary glance with Athos and then looked away.

'Probably not,' he admitted. 'But Anne is not the Captain.'

'No.' Catherine agreed. 'She is the Queen instead.'

Athos sighed above her. 'Aramis is right,' he said quietly. 'The Queen is a merciful woman, do not assume she will readily dismiss you both.'

Catherine didn't reply and wished instead that she could just curl up and go back to sleep. As it turned out she did because the next thing she became aware of was the sound of Captain Treville's voice echoing throughout the recesses of her brain.

'…you find out why this man was holding you?'

'Not the full reason,' Porthos replied. 'But then that's why we brought him back here.'

'You have no right to hold me like this!' Jacques' indignant squeak was followed sharply by what sounded like a kick to the stomach judging by the man's winded groans.

'I suggest you refrain from using your tongue unless you have something useful to say.' Treville said coldly. 'I'll inform the King about this, in the mean time put him in the Chatelet until his majesty decides what to do with him.'

'What about us?' Constance asked. 'Should we accompany you to the palace?'

'She's not really in any state to be presented to the Queen just yet.' Treville must have meant her, Catherine realised. 'If you're going to face the Queen I suggest you should at least be in a fit state to do so.'

'She has a name.' Catherine croaked groggily and opened her eyes slowly. 'And she is fine.'

Treville's mouth curled into a small smile. 'You're still as feisty as ever I see.'

'Yes I am.' Catherine groaned trying to pull herself up straight. She failed miserably and ended up slumping back onto Athos' chest. 'I think the Queen has waited long enough for us to show our faces again.'

'Captain Treville is right.' Athos said firmly and then in quieter tones. 'You should at least be able to stand up unaided before you go looking for more trouble.'

'I didn't think you would be complaining about getting rid of me sooner.' Catherine said with a faint smile.

'Yes well the sooner I get rid of you, as you put it, the sooner I'll end up digging you out of yet another hole.' Athos murmured.

'Excuse me, as far as I was aware it was _me_ who helped dig _you_ out the last hole.' Catherine mumbled.

Athos sighed heavily. 'Do you always have to argue with everyone!'

'I'm not...' Catherine began protesting but was cut off by Captain Treville.

'When you two have quite finished Athos perhaps you might accompany Porthos to the Chatelet.'

'Or I could go with Porthos instead.' Aramis chimed.

'No Aramis,' Treville said. 'I need you to come to palace with me as the Queen has requested to see you.'

Aramis raised his eyebrows in surprise. It had a been along while since Anne had directly requested his presence and for a moment he feared something was wrong with the baby.

'Athos will accompany Porthos to the Chatelet, d'Artagnan can stay and watch the ladies until we return.' Treville repeated.

'How many times do I have to tell you I am fine?' Catherine asked trying to dismount from Bazajet but found herself blocked by Athos' arm.

'With respect mademoiselle I suggest you stay here and get some rest.' Treville said. 'You can both use my office until I return if it pleases you. D'Artagnan will ensure your needs are met I'm sure.'

As Treville spoke d'Artagnan dismounted his horse and moved to help Catherine off Bazajet. For a very brief moment Catherine thought she felt Athos' grip tighten around her waist, as if he were reluctant almost to let go of her, but then he placed her into d'Artagnan's grip.

'Make sure she stays here.' Catherine heard Athos murmur to d'Artagnan as she staggered out of the musketeer's grip determined to stand on her own two legs.

'Don't worry I will,' d'Artagnan promised.

Constance, Catherine and d'Artagnan did not have to wait long before Porthos and Athos returned from the Chatelet.

'Well let's have a drink while our friend adapts to his new home.' Porthos grinned as he fished a few bottles of the Captain's wine out from the cupboard.

D'Artagnan raised an eyebrow. 'Do you think drinking the Captain's wine is a good idea?' He asked.

Porthos, who was just about to pour out a glass, frowned reconsidering his actions.

'D'Artagnan is right, put the wine back Porthos.' Athos said quietly from the corner which he had chosen to inhabit and from which he could watch Catherine closely.

Both musketeers and Constance looked at Athos as though he'd suddenly grown three heads.

'You feeling alright Athos?' Porthos asked giving the man a grin. 'Can't remember the last time you turned down wine Athos.'

'Neither can I!' D'Artagnan added jestingly.

Athos gave them both a sour look and shifted further into the corner but said nothing in reply. It was clear that he wanted the wine as much as Porthos did, but something appeared to be holding him back.

'Aramis will be disappointed to have missed this momentous occasion.' Porthos stated with feigned concern.

'He'll never believe it when we tell him.' d'Artagnan laughed.

Constance shook her head but could not completely hide her smile.

'Put the wine back Porthos before Treville returns and has us all in the stocks.' Athos grunted.

Porthos and d'Artagnan shared a smile with each other before Porthos held up his hands in resignation and returned the bottles to the cupboard.

'So what do we do while we are waiting?' D'Artagnan asked.

'Cards?' Porthos suggested a little too eagerly.

'Thanks but no thanks. You've already lost your cupboard and mine's practically bare as it is.' D'Artagnan grimaced at the memory of the last time he played against Porthos, one and a half months wages soon found themselves safely out of his grasp.

Porthos looked to Constance who shook her head and then to Athos who had now clearly found something captivating on the bare floorboards.

'What about you?' Porthos finally turned to Catherine who was slumped in another chair in front of the Captain's desk with her back to Athos and Constance. She looked up at the request and hesitated.

'I don't know how to play.' She confessed quietly.

'Ah come on then!' Porthos pounced. 'I'll teach you how.'

'What he really means is he'll teach you how to cheat.' D'Artagnan added.

Porthos looked offended.

'Now, now d'Artagnan don't get sour just because you can't beat me.' He wagged his finger at his younger brother.

D'Artagnan sniffed and looked out of the window.

'Right so I'll deal out the cards between us two and then we play them off until it's the last king. Whoever holds that wins.' Porthos said.

'I have no money on me.' Catherine warned him as he began to deal the cards between them.

'You can always pay me later,' Porthos said with a grin which abruptly faded when he glanced at Athos' warning expression. 'Or you could not,' he amended 'I'll let you get the ropes of it this time.'

Catherine smiled and picked up the cards he had dealt. She was sure that he was hiding one of the cards up his sleeve as when she counted up the cards he held and added them to her own, the total number was one below a complete deck.

It didn't matter too much at the end of it all anyway Aramis and Treville returned before they could finish the game. Aramis looked a little haunted and distant as he followed the Captain in and began to fiddle with his hat.

'What news from the palace?' Constance asked surprising everyone with the initial outburst.

'Jacques is to be released,' Treville admitted to the angry glares of everyone in the room.

'What do you mean he's going to be released?' Porthos asked his voice dangerously low. 'He kidnapped Athos and held him hostage.'

'Apparently he was acting under orders.' Treville said slumping down into his own chair.

'Whose?' D'Artagnan asked, his voice betraying his outrage.

'I can't tell you because I do not know.' Treville shook his head.

'Probably the Cardinal.' Porthos sneered throwing his cards on the table.

'That's a dangerous assumption Porthos.' Treville said coldly. 'I'll make enquiries and see what I can turn up but until then it will have to wait.'

'Wish I hadn't let the scum go now, I'd make him talk.' Porthos grumbled at the floor. Treville pretended not to hear the musketeer's statement.

'What about us?' Constance asked a hint of resignation in her voice.

'You are both to be escorted to the palace now for an audience with the King and Queen.' Treville said evenly.

'A public audience?' Catherine asked.

Treville nodded. 'It would seem so.'

There was a moment's silence.

'Well we'd best not keep them waiting.' Catherine said getting slowly to her feet. 'May we borrow two of your horses Captain and send them back once we reach the palace?'

Treville nodded. 'I'll send d'Artagnan with you to bring them back.'

Catherine wanted to point out that her and Constance's horses from the royal stables were still in the garrison but didn't get a chance before Porthos butted in.

'I could go as well,' Porthos started. 'If the ladies ride our horses there and we walk then we can bring them back…'

'I wish to go.' Athos cut in from the shadows.

'Or I could not.' Porthos finished.

Catherine smiled. Despite still feeling the effects from his right hook she was beginning to warm to Porthos with his friendly outgoing attitude. She remained unsure about Aramis, who had said nothing since returning with the Captain, and while she had no problem with d'Artagnan she was all too aware that the musketeer hadn't entirely forgiven her for involving Constance in the skirmish.

'Very well,' Treville motioned. 'You had better get off the four of you.'

While the plan had been to let the girls ride the musketeer mounts back to the palace as Catherine had rightly wanted to voice, her and Constance's mounts were still saddled below as the stable boy had been unsure where to put them. Catherine guessed that telling Athos and d'Artagnan that the girls did not therefore need a musketeer escort, would only end in an argument so to save her aching head she had said nothing.

By four o' clock that afternoon the four of them arrived at the palace. Athos gave Bazajet and Catherine's mount to one guard while d'Artagnan gave his and Constance's horses to another.

Constance looked at the two men. 'You don't need to stay.' She pointed out dryly. 'I'm sure this will be ugly enough without adding to the audience.'

D'Artagnan looked like he wanted to argue but Athos got there first.

'We'll stay until we know one way or the other that you will both be safe.' His tone brooked no room for argument.

'Catherine back me…' Constance looked to Catherine for back up only to find she had already crossed the garden walkway and was now ascending the stairs to the palace.

Constance sighed heavily and with a last look at d'Artagnan turned and hurried after her.

'What do you think?' D'Artagnan murmured to Athos as they followed Constance into the palace.

Athos shrugged. 'A public audience is not necessarily a bad thing. It might allow them time to justify themselves.' He said.

'Or serve as an arena for setting an example.' D'Artagnan hissed in return.

Athos sighed but did not reply. While his face remained its usual calm expression the succinct lines along his brow indicated that he too shared the same worry as d'Artagnan.

Constance had barely caught up with Catherine by the time they arrived at the hall.

'You could have waited for me.' She panted breathlessly.

'I didn't fancy a guarded escort.' Catherine said truthfully. Her stomach twisted with nerves and she felt more than a little dizzy. Truth be told she was unsure whether knowing that was following Athos behind her was making it easier or harder. Catherine knew all too well what was coming but while she knew it was justified she didn't relish the idea of further humiliation in front of Athos.

There was just enough time for Constance to smooth down her dress before they were announced and the doors opened. Catherine didn't see the point. To be fair she looked a mess and doubted whether a few creases were likely to have that much impediment on the punishment.

Catherine didn't know exactly who she expected to find in the room but she heard d'Artagnan curse quietly as the doors opened to reveal that the King and Queen were accompanied by half the nobility of France and the Cardinal.

Constance and Catherine made their way to the platform, on which the Queen and King were sat, keeping their eyes on the ground. Whispers were all around them some gossiped about their shabby appearance, others murmured about their charges while the rest all seemed to wonder why they were accompanied by the armed musketeers. Catherine suddenly found herself grateful for Athos' presence behind her.

Both her and Constance knelt when they reached the base of the platform and did not look up at the King, Queen or Cardinal. Behind them the two musketeers bowed respectfully but instead of moving to the side they remained standing just behind the girls.

There was a long awkward pause.

Finally the King spoke. 'Are you sure these are the ladies in question?' He asked. 'They look like they belong in the kitchens.'

Queen Anne nodded. 'Yes this is Madame Bonacieux and mademoiselle Catherine.' Both Constance and Catherine flinched at the formality in the Queen's address.

Louis sighed.

'What are they charged with again?'

'Leaving the palace and abandoning their services to the Queen without permission, theft and if I'm not mistaken they were also involved in the skirmish that Captain Treville spoke of not two hours ago.' It was the Cardinal who spoke. His voice was calm and his face unreadable.

'Theft!' D'Artagnan spoke out. 'Your majesty…' Athos silenced him with a glare.

'What did they steal?' Louis asked seeming thoroughly bemused with d'Artagnan.

'A private document pertaining to the matters of state concerning the Duke of Champagne from my office.' The Cardinal said coldly.

'Is this true?' The King asked.

'Constance has stolen nothing my lord,' Catherine spoke quietly. 'It was me who broke into the Cardinal's office and took the document.'

'I see.' The King mused staring at Catherine curiously. 'And why did you take it?'

'I obtained it to find the four musketeers who had gone missing while fulfilling the matter stated in the document.'

'You stole from the Cardinal to go after some musketeers?' The King asked incredulously. 'I'm sorry don't quite follow.'

'We were delayed on the return journey your Majesty.' D'Artagnan spoke again. 'I believe they felt were concerned.'

Louis looked at Catherine to ratify the statement but she was still looking at the floor and didn't see. Athos nudged her from behind.

'Yes your majesty, we were concerned about their welfare.' She said through gritted teeth.

Athos closed his eyes. 'Why couldn't she choose her words more carefully?' he cursed.

'You were concerned about the welfare of these men?' Louis asked almost laughing. 'What business is it of yours to be concerned about the welfare of my musketeers?'

Catherine bit her tongue. She couldn't drop Constance in more trouble by making vocally public their supposedly secret dalliance.

'Well… Well?' Louis prodded.

'Your majesty the fault is mine entirely,' she began still looking at the floor. 'I heard that the musketeers had gone missing and decided I wished to help them. I obtained the map from the Cardinal's office to find out the road they had taken and know where to begin looking. I followed the map and found that one of them had been waylaid by a tavern master, the rest I believe you have already been informed about by Captain Treville.'

'And what was your part in this?' Queen Anne asked Constance.

Before she could reply Catherine cut in.

'I pushed Constance to come with me,' she said. 'Constance did not wish to leave your side. She came to visit me in the evening but I had already gone. She decided to risk her reputation and job to come after me and persuade me to come back to Court. My Lady Constance is not to blame in this. Her only crime was to act as any loyal friend would!'

It was a lot of lies to purport but At the mention of the theft by the Cardinal, Catherine had known she was done for, she reasoned there was no sense in them both being dragged down for this. There were murmurs of approval from the audience behind in favour of Constance but unfortunately the look on Queen Anne's face clearly said she did not fully believe what she was being told. She knew of d'Artagnan's closeness to Constance and had wondered whether it was actually Constance who had decided to go after them with Catherine in tow.

'But I still don't understand why you felt you needed to go and find the musketeers.' Louis pressed. 'I mean what use are you as a girl in the world of swords and fighting. Surely you know it is not your place to go hunting after any of my musketeers.'

Catherine sighed. 'I knew they were in trouble my lord. I felt I had no choice. I would not have been able to live with myself if anything had happened to him and I had done nothing.'

Too late, Catherine realised what she had just said. In his own mind Athos uttered numerous expletives.

'_Him_?' The Cardinal asked. 'What do you mean by _him_?'

'She means the man standing behind her your Eminence.' Another voice spoke out from the crowd. Heads turned and people parted to reveal the Comte de Rochefort standing near the back.

'Comte de Rochefort?' The Cardinal asked.

'Monsieur Athos had rescued her from a group of bandits during the last parade,' Rochefort spoke. 'He then came to her rescue when she fainted near the Queen's apartments. I fear that she might have developed some, how should I put this…designs on this man.' As Rochefort spoke the murmurs and snickers began to creep up again.

Both Catherine and Athos were united that moment in that both of them wholeheartedly wished the earth would swallow them whole. Constance and d'Artagnan both looked embarrassed.

Both the King and Queen looked at the pair of them, one with incredulity the other with a strange sadness.

'Is this true?' Louis asked after a moment.

In order to prevent any further damage Athos decided to address the situation as best as he could.

'It is true that I helped this lady from the clutches of some bandits on the day of the parade and that I helped her when she fainted outside the Queen's apartments but…'

'So it is true?' The Cardinal butted in. 'Good heavens are all of the musketeers now in the business of seducing the Queen's ladies!' It was a deliberate attack and not just at Athos and Catherine.

'Monsieur Athos has done no wrong!' Catherine spoke calmly but loudly. 'He has behaved in a fashion which upholds the chivalrous reputation that _your majesties _musketeers are famed for. He has never presumed or acted inappropriately towards me and the Cardinal is wrong to imply so. He is a credit to the regiment and your majesty and he…' she gulped. 'is a very honourable and trustworthy man.'

The room was silent.


	16. Chapter 16 - Punishment

Chapter 16 - Punishment

Hello everyone, thank you so much to all of you who are really enjoying this story! As ever I own none of the characters except the OC.

It was a long a complete silence. Catherine's words reverberated around Athos' head and his heart had started beating so loud that he was almost sure that the entire court could here it. Catherine kept looking at the floor with the hope that her words would go someway to healing the rift between her and Athos. At the same time she also hoped, perhaps in vain, that they were enough to render him free of the accusation levelled by the Cardinal. King Louis looked at her thoughtfully while the Comte de Rochefort wore a mask of disdain.

In the end it was the King who broke the silence.

'So I'm confused,' he said. 'does she have designs on him or the other way around?'

Catherine went a slight shade of pink while Athos bit his tongue and wisely decided to say nothing.

Queen Anne just managed to refrain from rolling her eyes at her husband's new fascination.

'Does it matter?' she protested. 'Despite this affirmation I have no reason to believe that anything improper has occurred between them.'

The Cardinal snorted but at a glance from the Queen bit back whatever sly retort he had in mind.

Louis, who for once actually seemed enthralled by the events in front of him seemed unable to contain his disappointment as the thread came to a somewhat unsatisfactory end.

'Yes, well I guess it doesn't really impinge on the actual result here.' He sulked.

'Shall we get on with it then?' The Cardinal asked his eyes suddenly alighting again. 'After all it is a very fine afternoon your majesty.'

Louis straightened in his throne and looked out at the gardens to see it was. Perhaps he could go hunting.

'Well then what shall be done?' He mused.

Again Queen Anne leaned over and whispered to him.

'Are you sure?' Louis asked her.

Anne nodded with a faint smile.

'Very well this woman, Madame Bonacieux is it, shall immediately resume her duties to the Queen and she will endeavour to make no further discretions are ever committed.' Louis said firmly. Then he turned to Catherine. Before he could speak the Cardinal got there first.

'Sire would you really allow a thief to remain as a servant in the palace?' The Cardinal urged.

Louis sighed. ' Well I suppose not when you put it that way Cardinal…' The Queen leaned over and whispered in his ear for a moment. The room waited with baited breath.

'However,' the King continued. 'The Queen has informed me that she wishes for her to stay as a lady in waiting.'

'But surely this debacle cannot go unpunished!' The Cardinal cried, then in a lower voice. 'Your majesty must be seen to set an example to be upheld in front of the court.'

'I believe the penalty for stealing is thirty lashes, am I correct Cardinal?' Louis asked.

The Cardinal nodded.

'Very well. This woman shall receive thirty lashes as punishment for her theft from the Cardinal,' the Queen blanched and Athos looked furious. Seeing this the King continued quickly. 'But afterwards she shall, as the Queen requests, return to her service. Now the matter is settled I should like to enjoy an afternoons hunting, take her away.'

The King stood up and everyone bowed. As he descended the dais he was stopped by a voice.

'Wait!'

It was Athos. He had moved from where he had been standing and now knelt directly in front of the King blocking his path.

'Your Majesty I implore you if I have ever done any good in your service then do as I ask and spare her this ordeal, _please_.' Athos' voice was low but there was no hiding the worry in it.

Louis looked down at the musketeer with a non placeable expression.

'I cannot allow a crime to go unpunished. That is the law.' He declared softly.

'Then let me take the punishment in her place.' Athos begged.

'No, don't.' Catherine croaked.

'You want me to give you thirty lashes in her place?' Louis ignored her and looked to the Cardinal. He was rather surprised by what he saw. As his first minister, Richelieu was rarely surprised but, despite having seen Athos pleading on his knees in front of him before, this time it appeared to render him speechless.

In the absence of the Cardinal's argument Louis considered the proposal carefully. He had seen Athos numerous times before. He remembered sentencing him to execution for murder and assault only to be made to retract his words. He remembered how Athos had been one of the musketeers who had remained at the convent to defend Queen Anne and his, as of yet, unborn son. Up close the King could not deny there was something remarkably noble about the man now on his knees pleading in front of him. 'Perhaps honour and love do still exist in the age.' Louis thought silently. As the King pondered Rochefort watched closely, his face was also unreadable.

'Very well,' Louis said after a moment. 'It shall be as you wish it. Take this man away, he will receive thirty lashes at noon tomorrow.'

Athos nodded and looked up at the King with a thankful expression. D'Artagnan, whose expression throughout the whole scene had consisted of something between shock and disbelief, now looked distraught. He moved automatically to defend Athos as the guards approached, but Athos placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a warning glare.

'You can't…' D'Artagnan's voice was half-strangled.

'I have to.' Athos said simply. He unbuckled his sword and handed it to d'Artagnan. 'Watch that for me will you?'

'D'Artagnan nodded, desperately now trying to maintain composure as the guards placed their hands on Athos' shoulders and pushed him towards the exit.

As soon as the guards were out of sight immediately people began to gossip and loudly. The Queen, who had not yet moved from her throne looked down at the three people left in front of her. Two of them looked completely distraught, the other was still looking at the spot Athos had occupied a moment ago with glazed eyes.

Catherine couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She wanted to shout, scream, demand something but she didn't know what. Her mind raced but nothing seemed to be working coherently. The last few minutes were so much of a blur it was almost as if they didn't appear to have happened at all.

Queen Anne rose to her feet after a few minutes. Partly she did not want to be party to any malignant gossip and partly she also wanted to get Catherine out of the current surroundings. Anne was not made of stone and she empathized all too well with her returned lady in waiting's emotions. Perhaps she was all too aware that if their roles were reversed she too would have someone willing to commit such an act for her. But the roles were not reversed. She was the Queen and her lady the one to suffer the punishment, although Anne had a feeling that the new situation was probably the greater punishment of the two predicaments.

As the Queen rose the murmuring ceased and the courtiers bowed again. Constance rose and after giving d'Artagnan a sorrowful look followed behind the Queen's other ever present ladies. Catherine stood up as well, but the action was so mechanical that she swayed rather worryingly to one side and had to be propped up by a merciful onlooker who had been stood relatively close. As she passed d'Artagnan, Catherine's eyes read the anger, fear and hurt there. As she surveyed the visible emotions that seemed to mirror her own confusion Catherine's mind sharpened again and the world seemed to come crashing back.

'He hates me.' She thought as she stumbled past the stares and whispers. 'And who would blame him?'

As soon as they returned to the Queen's chambers Annabelle and Marie threw the linens and clothes at Constance and Catherine with orders that they be washed immediately. Anne herself disappeared into her private room with instructions that she was to be left alone. Constance picked up the bundle, most of which had fallen on the floor since Catherine neglected to catch her part, and went to take it to the launderers dragging Catherine along too.

'Thank you.' She said to Catherine as they stepped into the courtyard.

'What for?' Catherine's voice was strained.

'For protecting me and d'Artagnan.' Constance said. 'Although you didn't need to lie about my involvement.'

'I wasn't lying.' Catherine said absentmindedly.

Constance sighed and turned to face her.

'You can't blame yourself.' She said firmly.

'Why not, its my fault.'

'Because he wouldn't want you to!' Constance shook her by the arms. 'Don't you understand, he's doing this to protect you. You've never seen someone get thirty lashes have you? It can kill people, it would probably have killed you!'

'So I've as good as killed him then!' Catherine cried out her voice broken. She wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't seem to come.

'No. Don't underestimate Athos.' Constance cried in her turn. 'Athos is stronger than most men, musketeers are trained to take a lot of physical pain and come through it. He will survive and more than that he will be fine!'

'And if it was d'Artagnan in that situation would you say the same thing?' Catherine asked softly. Constance blanched.

'Of course you wouldn't!' Catherine was crumbling inside. 'I can't let this happen …I can't!'

'You can't do anything else.' Constance whispered as she watched Catherine turn on her heel and run back into the palace.

'We won't let this happen Athos!' Porthos thundered through the metal grating to the man manacled to the wall behind. 'We'll get you out of here.'

Athos shook his head. How many times did he have to say that there was nothing they could do? As he expected d'Artagnan had immediately gone to inform the others of the events that had transpired and as expected all three men had soon turned up, armed with fierce determination, to save their leader from his current plight. So far all their attempts to get him to change his mind had failed.

'I'll speak to the Queen.' Aramis said urgently. 'Perhaps she can help.'

At Aramis' mention of the Queen, Athos' head snapped up abruptly.

'Aramis do not be a fool.' He hissed and then seeing Porthos' slightly confused expression added more softly. 'The Queen was there, if she wanted to interfere she could have. She did not. Now for the hundredth, and hopefully last, time will you all please let this be?'

Porthos knew neither the events nor results from Aramis and Anne's one night attachment. While Athos felt guilty keeping yet another secret from a brother, both he and Aramis had refused to risk endangering Porthos and their youngest by making them privy to such information.

'Treville has to be able to do something.' D'Artagnan protested.

Athos sighed loudly. 'D'Artagnan please let this go.' He said firmly.

'Why did you do this?' The man almost pleaded in reply.

'For the same reason you would do this if it was Madame Bonacieux facing the same predicament.' Athos said with a hint of agitation.

D'Artagnan bit his lip and looked to the ground. Seeing that the man could not deny the charge levelled against him Athos said no more on the topic. Athos had said nothing against Constance since their encounter with his wife Anne, but privately he had strongly disapproved of her decision to remain with her husband at the end of it. He worried the damage that would be done to d'Artagnan should court scandal reveal and make public what so far had remained quiet. But he also accepted that such a risk was d'Artagnan's choice and all he could do was try and prevent his protégé from being subject to such hurts.

Seeing that Athos was stubbornly not going to change his mind Porthos punched the bars with an impressive ferocity and stormed off muttering something about needing a strong drink. D'Artagnan followed after him with a sigh but Aramis lingered.

'I do believe he's dented the metal.' Aramis mused half heartedly surveying the area Porthos had punched.

Athos snorted and smiled faintly. 'One of these days he's going to end up in trouble for that.'

'And as usual I suppose we will be the one's to dig him out.' Aramis smiled momentarily and then his face fell.

'I did speak to the Queen.' He said quietly.

'I gathered.' Athos said. 'She readily pardoned them both and accepted them back into her service.'

'Then…this?' Aramis gestured around him.

'Is at the Cardinal's insistence. Apparently Catherine stole the map from his office to find us.'

'Why is it always him!' Aramis snapped angrily.

Athos did not reply.

'Will you do something for me?' He asked after a moment.

Aramis nodded. 'Anything, you know that.'

'Well she can't…I can't… don't let her watch…' Athos sighed. 'Keep her out of trouble please.'

Aramis understood what Athos was asking for and he nodded.

'Of course I will, you have my word.' He promised and turned to go.

'And Aramis,' Athos added. 'I meant what I said about the Queen.'

Aramis looked as though he wanted to argue but on seeing Athos' expression thought better of it.

'As you wish.' He said bluntly.

At eight o' clock Catherine was still sat on her bed staring at the door. She still felt the desperate need to cry but she couldn't. She'd been sat on the bed for the past five hours although she seemed unaware of time passing by. Initially her mind had been clouded with Constance's words 'you can't do anything else.' And she knew she couldn't. It was her fault that Constance had nearly lost her job, her fault that she had caused both of them to end up at the King and Queen's mercy, her fault that Athos…

Catherine couldn't finish the end of her line. The thought made her stomach churn. She still hadn't properly recovered from Porthos' punch either which only served to worsen her feelings. Catherine knew it was her meddling that had gotten everyone around her into this mess and logic told her that further meddling would probably only worsen the situation.

But then when had she been so defeatist.

After a few hours Catherine's mind had turned to trying to concoct a plan to change the course that fate seemed to be taking. None of the feeble plans she came up with were likely to be successful, but then perhaps she could work on them as she went along. Catherine knew she should but could not do nothing. She just couldn't. _He_ shouldn't have to face this.

By ten o' clock Catherine had grown tired of sitting and doing nothing. Her body ached but her mind would not settle until she had tried something.

Catherine struggled to her feet and crossed the threshold to the door. As she closed it and started down the corridor outside, unsure of where or exactly what she was actually doing, a voice from one of the last people she expected to see drifted down the hall.

'Whatever your planning it won't work.'

Catherine turned.

'Monsieur Aramis?' She asked the surrounding darkness.

Sure enough Aramis stepped out from behind a nearby pillar and into a faint strand of moonlight.

'I suggest you go back to bed.' He said firmly. 'The Queen will not likely pardon you yet another day of duty.'

Catherine shuddered slightly at his tone. To the unknowing eavesdropper Aramis was simply showing his polite mannerisms as a gentleman, yet Catherine could read the strain all too implicit in his words.

'I was just going for a walk.' She said tiredly.

'You should be resting.' Aramis replied with a physician's concern. 'You've had a long day.'

'I can't… couldn't sleep.' Catherine said quietly.

Aramis nod was so slight Catherine almost missed it.

'Have you tried reading something?'

Catherine looked at him and sighed.

'How long are we going to play this game Aramis?'

'Until you go to bed.' Aramis answered smoothly.

'You know that isn't going to happen.'

'I'm afraid it is.' Aramis crossed his arms. 'I promised him I'd keep you out of trouble and I fully intend to keep it. But I think all things considered that you also owe it to him to comply with his wishes.'

The voice was soft but the meaning was sharp and hit Catherine like a knife.

'I can't let this…' Catherine trailed off and began walking away.

She got as far as the servant's gate before Aramis' arm seized and pulled her sharply back.

'What do you think will happen when you get caught hmmm?' Aramis' eye's blazed with anger. 'Do you think that the Queen will pardon you a second time? Do you think that if there was anything to be done we would not have already done it? Do you think you Athos will thank you for risking yourself further by trying to break him out of jail? Tell me do you respect Athos' actions at all or should I go right now and tell him he's going to half kill himself for nothing?'

Catherine crumbled under Aramis' gaze.

'How can you say that?' she croaked 'Why do you think I can't let him do this.'

'You really don't get it do you? He did this to protect you and if you respected him at all you'd let this be and comply with his wishes.'

Catherine looked at the ground but the tears still wouldn't come.

Aramis blew out a loud breath and ran his free hand down the back of his neck.

'Go back to your room my Lady,' he said quietly. 'Get some rest, heal and then go to work tomorrow and make sure that neither the Queen nor Athos has any cause to regret their decisions.' He paused for a moment. 'Also I must ask you not to leave the palace at any point tomorrow.'

Catherine looked at him exhaustedly.

'No.' She said. 'I want to be there…I want to support him.'

'He doesn't want you there.' Aramis shook his head curtly. He knew the words would sting but at this stage he thought it better to do whatever it took to discourage her.

'But…'

'NO! Do not make this harder for Athos than it already is!' Aramis straightened.

Catherine looked miserable but just for a moment Aramis thought he detected a gleam of defiance in her eyes.

'I am on duty tomorrow and I will stop you if I see you try to leave. But I hope for Athos' sake it will not come to that.'

Then the glimmer of defiance faded replaced only by sadness. Finally satisfied that he had gotten through to her Aramis let go of Catherine's arm and watched her move slowly back up the path.

He knew he would have to keep an eye on her anyway but he at least hoped that he had gotten some sense through to her.

Looking up at the sky Aramis sent up a silent prayer for something, anything to intervene tomorrow.


	17. Chapter 17 - To Protect

Chapter 17 - To Protect.

Hi everyone, thank you to those who are continuing to read and review this story. As usual all of the characters except the OC belong to the BBC and Alexandre Dumas.

The day dawned brightly but with a cold chill. Constance knocked on Catherine's door at six o' clock. Initially she got no answer and so she knocked again but louder this time and with more determination. The door swung open to reveal a rather dishevelled and tired looking Catherine, still wearing the peasant dress she had been for the last three days.

'Why are you still wearing that?' Constance asked with her hands on her hips. Catherine just gave her a blank look.

'Didn't you get any sleep?' Constance added more softly.

Catherine shook her head.

Constance sighed. 'Come on you need to get changed now, we need to collect the Queen's breakfast for seven.'

'Doesn't she usually dine with the King?' Catherine asked quietly.

'Not today.' Constance replied. 'Come on get washed and changed now!'

Catherine groaned under her breath but slowly did as Constance asked. When she opened the door again she found Constance tapping her feet agitatedly.

'We'll need to move quickly or we'll be late.' She said setting off a brisk walk.

Catherine followed in tow but looked decidedly unenthusiastic.

At ten past seven Constance and Catherine bustled into Queen Anne's private bedchamber laden with trays and jugs of water, coffee and cocoa. Catherine had momentarily wondered why the Queen needed so much food and drink before the thought occurred to her that as Anne was the Queen she was entitled to a select what she ate and drank. Constance looked agitated at being late and was already forming an apology in the back of her mind which fortunately was not needed as Queen Anne herself still happened to be asleep.

As Catherine threw back the curtains almost blinding herself in the process the Queen stirred and woke up.

'Oh is breakfast time already?' She asked sleepily.

'Everything is here as you requested my lady,' Constance said reaching behind the Queen to fluff up her pillows.

Anne sat up, rubbed the sleep out her eyes and examined the trays in front of her. As she began selecting some eggs from one of the dishes her eyes fell on Catherine who was stood staring out of the window at the gardens. Anne felt a twinge of guilt hit her as the events of the previous day resurfaced.

'Will you be so kind as to wake Marie and Annabelle?' She indicated to Constance who nodded and left after curtseying.

'Did you get any sleep last night?' The Queen called over to Catherine. She already knew the answer but was unsure of how else to start the conversation.

'As long as you got plenty of sleep my Lady that is all that matters.' Catherine said quietly, finally turning away from the window.

Anne nodded to the trays in front of her.

'Help yourself.' She said.

Catherine shook her head. 'I would not presume to eat your breakfast your majesty.' What she really wanted to say was that she had absolutely no appetite at the moment and her stomach churned at the sight of food, but she knew that such a response would have been rather impolite. Regardless of her appropriate excuse the Queen was having none of it.

'You haven't eaten since I don't know when. Besides I cannot manage all this by myself so I would appreciate the help.'

Catherine sighed. She really just wanted to run but Aramis' warning from the previous night resounded in her mind. So instead Catherine did as the Queen bid her to and helped herself to a small portion of the contents of the trays.

Anne watched Catherine as she disinterestedly picked her way through the food. 'You're wondering why I didn't intervene on his behalf aren't you?' She asked after a moment.

That caught Catherine by surprise, the thought actually hadn't crossed her mind until now.

'I never expected you to my Lady,' she admitted after a moment. 'You have done more than I could have wished for in pardoning Constance.'

'But not yourself?' The Queen asked between a mouthful of toasted bread.

'Of course I am extremely grateful for my job as well.' Catherine replied quietly.

'But?'

'But I…I don't think…I don't know my Lady,' Catherine gave up her line of thought.

'There is nothing wrong with thinking that it should be you and not him that takes the penalty for your actions.' Anne said plainly.

'But?' Catherine asked.

'But perhaps you are viewing this situation in the wrong light.' Anne continued. 'Athos deliberately took the penalty to spare you the physical torment of your actions yes, but you yourself are suffering from guilt that such an action brings. Let that be punishment enough.'

'I would still have felt guilty even if…' Catherine felt the bile rising up her throat.

Anne nodded quietly and looked as though she was about to say something further when the door opened and in bustled Constance, Annabelle and Marie.

Both Annabelle and Marie looked shocked to see Catherine perched on the end of the bed let alone to see her eating breakfast with the Queen.

'Good morning your majesty,' They both chorused, curtseying together. Constance had to hide her smile at their evident shock.

'Good morning ladies,' The Queen said evenly. 'Can you see to it that my morning dress is laid out for me please?'

They nodded and set to work.

Throughout the rest of the morning, probably as an attempted act at mercy,wthe Queen had Catherine do most of the work. Where usually it was the duty of Annabelle and Marie to wash, dress and help the Queen choose her jewellery, they were now relegated to the linens and cleaning along with Constance. Had it have been any other day Catherine would undoubtedly have derived some satisfaction at their evidently put out demeanours, but instead all she found herself desperately wishing was that she could just disappear out of sight.

As the morning went on the Queen decided she wished to continue sewing her unborn child's swaddling clothes out on the lawns. All four ladies were to accompany her but after half an hour the Queen whitely asked Constance for something to which she nodded and left. Catherine was not brilliant at sewing she was the only one to find herself sat there holding a book but with absolutely no interest in the contents of its pages. As the morning dragged on ever more slowly Catherine developed a dull headache and felt the need to fetch some water. As she stood up to go inside Queen Anne looked up sharply.

'Is something wrong?' She asked.

'I have a headache, your majesty.' Catherine grimaced. 'Might I go and fetch some water please?'

'As you wish,' Anne sighed and then narrowed her eyes. 'But be quick.'

Catherine nodded, regretted it and turned back to the palace. As she passed over the lawns she could have sworn she saw a familiar blue coat and hat hiding in the shadows of the palace. 'Probably just Aramis making sure I don't run off,' she scowled mentally. Just as Catherine reached the open door the bells of Notre Dame suddenly began to resound in distance.

Catherine froze as the last stroke signalled that midday had arrived.

Looking around him at the crowd Athos noticed to his relief that the one person he had hoped not to be present was in fact not present. He was a little surprised to note that neither Aramis, Porthos and d'Artagnan were there. Captain Treville, who was present amongst the crowds, seemed to guess what Athos was pondering and sent him a knowing look which told him that the Captain had ordered them away. Treville knew how tight the three men were knitted and it pained him to know that he was probably causing them pain by not allowing them to be there for their brother. At the same time Treville knew Athos well enough to know the man would not want a spectacle here. As a result he had assigned all three of the men to guard duty at the palace that day. Treville sighed remembering how much they had argued with him, at one point he had actually been rather worried that Porthos was going to punch him in the face. Aramis certainly looked like he wanted to but managed to restrain both himself and Porthos. D'Artagnan had seemed to understand why Treville had put them on guard duty and hadn't argued the toss with him, but the young man hadn't yet learnt the skill to control the emotions and disappointment visible on his face.

Treville had ordered the king's physician to be on standby and had arranged for two other musketeers to be present to get Athos back to the garrison as soon as possible after. As he watched Athos being strung up by two red guards Treville sent a silent prayer up to the skies for Athos to come through this as expected.

Athos himself wore his usual calm and almost emotionless expression. This time, Treville noted, half of Paris alongside himself seemed to be marvelling at the man's self control. Of course he had noted that Lady Catherine wasn't there but he was surprised to see two other people. One was le Comte de Rochefort who had bagged a front row seat and was accompanied by a woman Treville knew but could not instantly place. The second was Constance Bonacieux. How she had managed to get out of her duties Treville was not sure, but he didn't have to wait long for the answer as Constance pushed her way over to him.

'You shouldn't be here Madame.' Treville said flatly as she moved next to him. 'Her Majesty would not approve.'

'Her majesty sent me.' Constance replied.

'Why?'

'She wants to know what happens,' Constance sighed. 'But in truth I am not so sure whether she's sent me for herself or to help someone else.'

Treville nodded to himself.

'You still shouldn't witness this, she should have sent a guard instead.'

'Wouldn't that rather defeat the purpose of you putting them on guard duty?' Constance asked grimacing as Athos' shirt was stripped from him.

Treville couldn't help but give her a faint smile but it soon vanished.

'Will he be ok?' Constance asked the worry all too evident in her voice.

'I hope so my Lady,' Treville muttered, more to himself than to her. 'Go.' He said as the guards picked up the leather rope.

'But the Queen…'

'Go!' Treville said firmly. 'Tell her majesty I will report to her as soon as this is over. I'll need to see the others anyway.'

Constance glanced at Treville and then Athos.

'Now!' Treville cried pushing her away as the first stroke resounded through the air. Constance turned and ran.

Athos didn't really feel the first few strokes. He had managed to send his mind to a distant place, the place it usually ended up after six bottles of wine. He was determined to stay there for as long as he could possibly manage so, after all he did still want to walk away from this with some dignity.

As the tenth stroke fell Athos' stern resolved began to crack. Pain was now steadily lacerating its way up his spine and directly to his brain gradually tugging Athos further back to reality. By the time the fifteenth stroke fell Athos was physically biting down on his tongue to stop himself from crying out. As the guard mercilessly Athos vaguely noticed that either the crowd seemed to be getting quieter or he was beginning to lose focus. Either way it was not a good sign.

As the twenty-fifth stoke fell Athos gave up on trying to keep quiet. His mind was a blur of pain and his body seemed to feel but unbearably hot and cold at the same time. 'Focus!' He grunted desperately. 'Remember why you're doing this!' As another stroke landed its mark Athos let out a strangled laugh. The pain more than served to remind him that there was no way in hell that Catherine could have withstood and survived this, but equally the pain crumbled his own resolve as to why he needed to be the one suffering for her stupidity in the first place. After all how many times had he warned her!

Hoping to God that his counting was correct, Athos felt unbearable relief as the last stroke came thrashing down. He had come through it! He was alive! More than that he was still standing!

Somehow Athos managed to feel some sense of satisfaction at that. But it was short lived. Amidst the pain he had somewhat forgotten that the shackles around his wrist were what was holding him up. As the red guards released the shackles, without a care to actually support him, he crumpled backwards. Thankfully someone was there to prevent him from hitting the ground completely.

'..orthos…amis…' was all he managed to stutter before he thankfully passed out.

True to his word Treville arrived at the palace to report to the Queen somewhere around half past two. He had first made sure that Athos was safely taken back to the garrison and had stayed by the man's side until the King's physician informed him that he had done all he could.

It was Constance who announced him to the Queen who stood up from her writing desk to greet him. Treville had been grateful that he knew the palace schedule's well enough to avoid running into the three men who would doubtlessly be going mad for news. He had decided to report to the Queen first of all and then go and relieve the men of their official duties.

Queen Anne looked concerned but somewhat relieved herself when Treville told her that Athos was still alive and, if the court physician was to be trusted, should pull through. She thanked him graciously and then gave him leave. As he left Constance caught the Captain's arm.

'Thank you.' She said earnestly. 'For earlier and for now.'

Treville gave her a strained smile and a nod before walking away. As he rounded the corner into the corridor that led to the gardens the door on his immediate left opened and the last person Treville wanted to see collided with him.

Catherine pulled back from the Captain who gave her an agitated look and then, remembering his manners, bent down and retrieved the Queen's newly washed blanket from the floor. He made to hand it to Catherine who jumped back from him as if he just badly burnt her instead. Treville retracted his arm, awkwardly still with the blanket in his grasp. 'Perhaps I should have judged that a bit better.' He thought silently.

Treville watched Catherine who stared at him with a wild eyed expression not uncommon to a terrified puppy. He debated mentally whether or not to tell her what she clearly wanted to know. As the Captain opened his mouth he realised too late that his eyes must have shown his mental calculations. Before Treville even got so much as a word out Catherine blanched and fled back through the door from which she had emerged.

Momentarily astounded Treville quickly recalled her expression after she ran into him and the realisation hit him. 'She's scared of me.' He frowned.

As Treville stood rooted to the spot still holding the blanket in his outstretched arm, three anxious and impatient musketeers rounded the corner. Treville sighed, apparently word of his arrival had spread quicker than he thought.

'Well?' Porthos demanded.

Treville held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. 'Its done but he'll be ok.' He said simply.

Porthos heaved a sigh of relief while Aramis, who looked as though he'd been desperately holding himself on edge for an age, visibly calmed.

'Can we see him?' D'Artagnan asked quietly.

'I came here to relieve you of your official duties now. But I warn you he was still unconscious when I left.'

The three men saluted and hurried away leaving Treville once again standing alone in the corridor.

As he stood there contemplating the day, Treville felt that someone was watching him and looked up to see the Cardinal grinning slyly at him.

'What in God's name does he want?' Treville thought to himself as he watched the Cardinal raise an eyebrow suggestively at him and then saunter away.

Then he looked down and saw that the Queen's light pink woollen blanket was still in his hand and groaned.

'Great, just great.' He muttered angrily. 'What the hell do I look like now?'


	18. Chapter 18 - Recovery

Chapter 18 - Recovery.

Hi everyone, thank you for continuing to read this story. Despite this chapter being longer than the others I've had to leave some areas out but I hope it still works. As ever I own none of the characters except the OC.

_Catherine could barely hear herself think over the shouts and calls from the crowd that surrounded her. They were all jostling forwards towards a platform but even as she was swept along, Catherine found herself unable to see what was captivating everyone__'__s attention above the row of heads. _

_Suddenly someone bumped into her and then started out loud catching the attention of others. Whispers and snide looks rapidly replaced the shouts and calls as the crowd parted to stare at her. Catherine felt herself compelled to move forwards through the narrow path and she watched in fear as people continued to gossip and look at her like she was some previously unseen attraction. _

'_That__'__s the one is it?__'__ Someone hissed._

'_She__'__s hardly worth it.__'__ Another sounded. _

'_Is he mad do y__'__reckon?__'_

'_She doesn__'__t even look sorry!__'_

_As she felt herself being pulled forwards by invisible strings Catherine spotted Captain Treville standing to one side. He wore a cold and judging expression. A little further behind him stood Aramis, d__'__Artagnan and Porthos huddled together. As their gaze fell on her their expressions turned from sorrow to anger and certainly in one case hatred. In her desperation to see someone with a kinder expression Catherine saw Constance to her right, but even she shook her head disappointedly. _

_As Catherine passed through the crowd she finally became able to view the platform in its entirety. The first thing she saw where two red guards, one holding a leather rope. The next was a slumped figure on the ground surrounded by blood. _

_Catherine stopped unable to move further. __'__Athos!__'_

_She wanted to move towards him but couldn__'__t, she tried to open her mouth to call to him but her voice only came out in silence. _

_A person stepped out to her left. __'__Comte de Rochefort,__'__ Catherine tried to move away but remained frozen to the spot. Rochefort smiled at her like a shark. _

'_My, my look at the trouble you__'__ve caused.__'__ He sneered. _

_Catherine blanched as he stepped closer. __'__Wouldn__'__t you agree Milady?__'_

'_Far too much trouble.__'__ A silky voice sounded from just over her right shoulder._

'_Who was Milady?__'__ Catherine thought wildly but a groan from the platform suddenly distracted her attention. Athos was awake and was trying to move. _

'_Athos!__'__ Catherine she tried to call but to no avail. _

_Athos, much to her to her surprise, looked rather alert but despite his struggles he remained on the floor. Suddenly his eyes drifted over in her direction and then turned dark with anger._

'_You!__'__ He snarled. _

_Catherine blanched at the venom in his voice. _

'_Get away from her!__'__ he hissed. _

_Get away? Who was she to get away from? What had she done? _

_Athos__'__ eyes roved over the crowd and stopped at his three brothers. __'__Stop her!__'__ He cried desperately. _

_Tears burning her eyes and fearing the wrath of the other three musketeers Catherine finally turned to run. Everything happened so quickly. Catherine turned to find herself momentarily stunned by the striking woman with dark curls and cold eyes who was just behind her. The woman smiled at her sweetly and then quick as a flash stabbed a knife into Catherine__'__s chest. _

'_You should have stayed away from him.__'__ The woman said plainly as Catherine staggered backwards in shock. _

_Pain flared through her body but no-one moved to help her. _

'_Athos__…'__ she tried to call to him. Then the world blurred with pain and tears and she felt herself sinking into darkness. _

'Athos!' Catherine sat bolt up right with a terrified scream and tears flowing down her cheeks. It seemed so real that momentarily she forgot she was safe in her room at the palace and clutched her at her chest where Milady had struck the knife breathing heavily.

It took a while for her to calm down and she remained cold and shaking amongst her sheets and nearly jumped out of her skin when there was a knock at the door and Constance, still in her nightwear, rushed in.

'Not another nightmare.' She whispered quickly taking note of Catherine's appearance.

'It keeps happening.' Catherine stuttered trying to pull the sheets around her and wishing the woman would leave her to her embarrassment.

Constance hurried over and perched on the side of her bed.

'How many times do I have to tell you he's going to be fine,' she said gently. 'D'Artagnan says he's even been up and about the garrison these past couple of days.'

Catherine looked down at her bedding sadly. It had been two weeks since Athos had taken thirty lashes on her behalf yet, despite numerous reports that Athos was recovering well and quickly at that, Catherine still found herself struggling to comprehend it. The nightmare had been recurring for the past week and a half but Catherine had not yet told Constance exactly what it consisted of. Considering she always woke up screaming for Athos, Constance had assumed she was having nightmare's about his death.

But it wasn't his death that Catherine feared, nor for that matter was it her own by this mysterious woman, Milady. No what Catherine feared the most was her own hurt at Athos' anger, hatred and implied rejection.

Constance sighed as Catherine continued to fidget with her bedding. 'I wish you'd go and see him.' She said for the hundredth time that week.

Catherine shook her head. 'He won't want to see me.' She whispered.

'You don't know that!' Constance protested. 'A visit from you might cheer him up, remind him of why he got himself into this mess.' She tried to joke.

Catherine shook her head again. 'If he wanted to see me he would have sent a message.'

Constance wasn't willing to give up. 'You never used to be afraid of just showing up at the garrison, invited or otherwise?'

'I hadn't grievously injured one of their own before now.' Catherine barked with a sorry laugh.

'They don't hate you.' Constance said guessing what Catherine was referring too. 'They're just worried for him.'

Catherine turned away. Truth be told it wasn't only Athos she was afraid of right now. Confrontation with Porthos, Aramis and particularly d'Artagnan also worried her. If they already hated her for getting Athos into this mess why would she wish to provoke them further?

Constance pursed her lips and then took hold of Catherine's shoulders. 'Come on,' she said laying her back down and pulling the covers over her. 'Get some more sleep if you can. We'll talk about this more at a decent hour.'

Catherine pulled the covers tight around her and turned onto her side away from Constance.

As she shut the bedroom door Constance turned to find Aramis outside hand on his rapier.

'I heard screaming and thought someone was being attacked. Is everything alright?' He asked.

Constance nodded. 'It was just another nightmare.'

'Another nightmare?'

'She's been having them every night now for the last week.' Constance admitted quietly.

'Is it about…' Aramis trailed off.

'Probably. I keep telling her he's fine but it doesn't make any difference. I even suggested she visit him but she won't. I think she's scared.'

'Of him?'

'Of all of you.' Constance said flatly.

Aramis raised an eyebrow. 'I didn't think I was _that_ bad.'

Constance grinned at his joke but then her face turned serious.

'She knows how close you are to each other. I think she's afraid of how you'll react around her and if that will put pressure on him.'

Aramis frowned and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

'Maybe I should talk to her, again.' He said.

'Leave her be for now.' Constance motioned to the door. 'I've tried to get her to go to sleep for a bit longer.'

Aramis nodded and turned to go back to his post.

'Why are you here?' Constance asked him suddenly. 'Musketeers don't usually act as night guards around the palace.'

Aramis shrugged but couldn't meet her eyes. 'Treville's orders.' he muttered and then hurried off. Constance paused and watched him go. 'What is wrong with everyone these days?' She thought to herself.

* * *

As the cold morning light streamed in through the shutters Athos groaned and pulled himself up onto his knees. He hated sleeping on his front but knew that even through the bandaging there was still little chance of him managing to get comfortable on his back. Furthermore having to sleep on his front had cost him his straw pillow, since Aramis had fretted that Athos would suffocate himself with it, which consequently meant he now added chronic neck pain to his list of ailments.

Athos groaned softly and reached for a half empty wine bottle. The first few days had been the worst and Athos vaguely remembered being heavily drunk for the remainder of that week. Alcohol, in hindsight, was not the answer particularly when Athos had been trying his best to cut back on the stuff.

'Still,' he thought 'at least it made most of the time in bed bearable.'

Once he'd managed to drink down the rest of the bottle, Athos threw it to the side and dragged himself over to the window. Down at the table below sat Aramis, d'Artagnan and Porthos huddled together to keep back the ever growing cold. They weren't eating so much as talking quietly to each other. Athos grinned, he was willing to bet twenty livre they were talking about him.

Athos was more than willing to just stand there and watch them gossip together but his stomach grumbled loudly. With a few grunts Athos managed to pull his jacket over his shirt but did not fasten it. He left his sword belt and pauldron too, there was little point dressing himself up when Treville had told him that, no matter how hard he protested, he was not going on any missions for the next month.

As soon as he reached the table the quiet conversation between the three men stopped dead as they turned to face him.

'Why did I not place that bet again?' Athos thought to himself.

'Your up early.' D'Artagnan commented in between mouthfuls of apple.

'Ah well the early bird catches the worm or so they say in England apparently.'

D'Artagnan looked confused.

'What worm?' He asked.

Athos smiled and shook his head.

'I need to look at those stitches today.' Aramis sighed.

Porthos gave the man a pointed look.

'Oh come on, don't tell us your still sour that it isn't your needlework you'll be inspecting?'

Aramis held up his hands in defence and an expression of mock hurt crossed his features.

'Porthos my friend, when have I ever been sour about anything?'

'Well first there was that time when Adele left you, then there was the time when Athos ruined Porthos' stitches at Le Feré…' D'Artagnan began. Aramis made a useless swipe at him.

'I was not _sour_ about any of those things…a little annoyed perhaps but never sour!'

'Which is another way of saying you were sour.' Porthos grinned.

Athos smiled warmly and pulled himself down at the table. It was fun to hear his comrades banter and it took his mind off the heavy ache in his back and neck.

'Your forgetting the most obvious time you have demonstrated your sour abilities Aramis.' He said.

Aramis looked at him questioningly.

'Now.' Athos said and Porthos burst out laughing. D'Artagnan half choked on his apple while Aramis simply looked affronted.

'Yes well, remember who has to be poking your stitches later.' He muttered. 'Now shall we drop the topic or do I have to go and eat with Davide and the others?'

'Good luck trying.' D'Artagnan grinned. 'He hasn't spoken a word to most of us since Lady Catherine beat him at swords.'

At the mention of Catherine, Athos stiffened a little and looked away. Porthos went to kick d'Artagnan under the table but missed and hit Aramis instead.

'Hey watch your feet!' The musketeer grouched. 'I've just cleaned these boots.'

D'Artagnan looked a little sheepishly at Athos. 'Sorry, are you alright?'

Athos masked his face into that ever cool and calm expression and nodded his head. 'Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?'

Porthos, Aramis and d'Artagnan shared a knowing look. 'She does want to come and see you,' d'Artagnan said. 'But Constance said the Queen has had them all running after her morning and for the last couple of days, what with her cold and everything.'

Athos didn't believe it. The girl had a knack for escaping and turning up uninvited on their doorstep. It was uncharacteristic for Catherine to let her official duties get in the way. But at the same time Athos wasn't shallow minded enough to think that she didn't actually want to see him. He'd spent the last two days trying to work out why she hadn't made an appearance and had begun to wonder whether his companions might be the actual problem.

He had considered going to the palace himself to find her, but Treville had forbidden him to leave the garrison until fully healed. For once Athos was inclined to believe that the Captain actually had been checking on him regularly and so he decided to leave it. He could send d'Artagnan or one of the others to see her but if, as he feared, they were reason she was keeping away from him then that solution wouldn't work either.

Constance could have helped, but her and d'Artagnan now only met outside the garrison. All of that unfortunately and essentially left Athos in lurch. Even worse Athos had found that he could no longer shake the feeling that the longer he left it, the more damage he was doing.

Sighing to himself Athos picked at his bowl of oatmeal and tried to look remotely interested in the world around him. Right now it was all he could do.

When Athos finally slouched back off to his room, the three musketeers resumed the actual conversation they had been having before he had shown up.

'We need to do something about this.' Porthos muttered. 'Its eating him up.'

'Why won't she come and see him though?' d'Artagnan murmured. 'One would think we'd have had a harder time keeping her away than actually getting her to come and see him.'

'I think we're the problem.' Aramis said quietly.

'How so?' Porthos asked. 'I thought she was ok with the…well you the punch thing.'

'She is Porthos but I spoke to Constance earlier,' d'Artagnan's eyes narrowed. 'She mentioned that Catherine's been having nightmares constantly over the last week or so and that she thinks she is afraid of how we'll react to her.'

'She thinks we blame her for Athos' injuries.' Porthos nodded suddenly understanding.

'Well she is to blame.' D'Artagnan muttered. Porthos and Aramis looked at him darkly.

'Athos chose this remember.' Aramis said warningly.

'He shouldn't have had too.' D'Artagnan pointed out but seeing Aramis' face quickly added. 'I don't hate her though and I wouldn't harm her for it.'

'That's not the way she sees it.' Aramis muttered.

'So we need a plan to get her and Athos together then?' Porthos said his eyes brightening.

'Preferably one that doesn't look like we've set it up.' Aramis nodded.

'Right so, Athos can't leave the garrison yet and she won't come to us.' D'Artagnan stated. 'So how do exactly do we do this?'

'We need a diversion,' Aramis smiled slyly. 'And I think I know exactly how we can get one.'

* * *

Athos breathed the air out of the garrison with a deep vigour, it wasn't so much the unclean air that he was rejoicing in but the freedom of being able to get outside of the garrison again. Athos had not been so blind to note that Treville had been more than a little reluctant to let him go and fetch the munitions supplies, but after being cooped in the garrison for so long Athos was not inclined to give it much thought. Despite having his sword, pistol and dagger to hand Athos was not completely free of his injuries which the polished mahogany cane, in his right hand, highlighted all too clearly.

When Athos eventually made it to the market street he sought out the munitions supplier as fast as he could. While Athos knew that Treville would expect him back within a certain time frame, he had other matters that he wanted to attend too as well.

'Its thirty-five livres for the lot.' The grubby looking munitions supplier declared as he picked up a large basket filled with musket rounds and powder. 'Forty if you want it delivered.' He added noting the cane in the musketeers hand.

'That'll be fine thank you, but see that it is delivered this afternoon please.' Athos grunted as he reached down to the purse Treville had given him.

For a moment the munitions supplier looked a little surprised but then quickly schooled his features into a greedy grin. Athos knew he should have bartered the cost down to around thirty livre for the lot and the delivery, but noble men did not barter for their goods. Despite everything that Athos had given up when he declared his previous identity dead, there were certain characteristics from it that he had refused to surrender.

As he made to hand the money over to the supplier Athos saw the attacker come a second too late. A large man in a hooded black cloak grabbed hold of Athos' arms and pinned them behind him. Athos hissed in pain as the motion caused the skin on his back to fold. The man grunted and dragged the musketeer backwards away from the market. Athos naturally wanted to reach for his sword, dagger or pistol but with pain arching its way up his spine and his hands well and truly pinned by the man's strength there was not much he could do. People in the market had cleared a small area and were watching but nobody seemed willing to help. Athos growled to himself, perhaps Treville had been right after all.

* * *

As Catherine wandered through the streets of Paris clutching the wicker basket in her right hand she breathed the smelly air with a hint of distaste. This was hardly the country walk she had always liked to go on but it was better than nothing. Queen Anne had noted that her melancholy attitude was not improving over the last couple of days and had decided to send her to fetch some materials and flowers from the market as a way of distracting her. Catherine knew she should have rode into Paris and taken a guard with her as the other ladies did but her recent depression had not lessened her love of walking everywhere. If anything Catherine had hoped that the Queen might be right in her assumptions. As she got closer to the market she saw that there was evidently some conundrum going on, people were gathering into a crowd to watch something. Catherine sighed. The merchant she needed to visit was on the other side of whatever was going on which meant she would have to push through everyone.

'I really should have brought that guard,' she mumbled to herself as she shoved people out of her way using the basket in her hand.

As Catherine finally made it through the crowd to the epicentre of the action she looked at the scene in front of her and her heart stopped dead. The last man she had wanted to see right now was currently on the floor struggling as best as he could to get out of the grip of a large man who was holding him down and searching him for something.

It only took a moment for Catherine to react to seeing Athos thrashing around on the ground.

'Hey you!' She snarled dropping the basket. 'Get away from him.'

The hooded man turned sharply to see who had spoken, but did not relieve the pressure on Athos.

'Oh yeah what you gonna do about it if I don't.' The man sneered, voice muffled by the scarf which covered most of his face.

'Believe me you don't want to find out.' Catherine hissed stepping forwards.

'Catherine what are you doing? Get out of here!' Athos grunted from the floor.

'I'd take his advice if I were you.' The other man growled.

Catherine was undeterred. 'I told you to get off him, I will not tell you again.' She warned.

The man snickered and looked down at Athos. 'You wait right here I'll be back in a moment.'

Then, without warning, he lunged clumsily at Catherine who had readily expected the manoeuvre and dodged it just as easily. As she swung round to face her opponent she saw him pull a long dagger out from under his cloak. Catherine moved backwards and drew her uncle's sword out from its hiding place beneath her outer skirt. Ever since she had returned from the rescue mission Catherine had taken to wearing it regularly. She now felt naked without it by her side.

Seeing the sword the man paused for a moment and some of the men in the crowd began to laugh quietly. Their laughter only served to rile Catherine even further. 'What is it with men and their egos?' She snapped out loud causing some of the men to quieten down.

Catherine re-focused her attention on the advancing man who dodged left and right and then threw himself full centre. Catherine brought her sword to bare with the dagger and a clash of steel on steel resounded down the street. Catherine knew she had to end this fast, the sound of clashing blades would undoubtedly attract the red guards who could then arrest them both for illegal duelling. Moreover she was worried about Athos who, much to her dismay, was still trying and failing to pull himself up from the floor. While the attacker certainly had brute strength on his side, Catherine noted he did not appear to be very agile. As he lunged towards her for the third time Catherine sidestepped it neatly and stuck her right leg out causing the man to stumble to his knees. Unfortunately she realised too late she that the man had been faking his lack of agility when he instantly swung round to her and using his weight sent her sprawling backwards on the ground.

'No!' Athos cried out. He had managed to pull himself up and now lunged to bring the man down but Catherine got there first. She kicked out and smiled triumphantly as her foot found its mark between the attackers legs. He gave a loud grunt and careened backwards slamming into Athos and sending them both to the ground. Athos cried out as his back hit the floor crushed under the weight of the other man who deftly rolled off him and fled through the crowd knocking people left, right and centre out of his way. Catherine pulled herself up and grabbed her sword which had flown from her grip when she crashed to the ground. As she re-sheathed it she looked up to find that some people in the crowd were cheering and clapping while others looked disapprovingly at her.

A grunt from the floor soon refocused her attention. Athos was once again struggling to get up. Catherine gazed at him for a moment and then bent down to help him up. As she placed her hands on either side of his waist and pulled Athos tried to bat her away.

'I don't need help.' He growled.

'Yes you do,' Catherine grunted in reply. 'So shut up and take it.'

Athos growled some unintelligible under his breath.

'Will you get off me I'm fine!' He snarled again when Catherine had managed to pull him to his feet and began brushing him down.

'Yeah you looked it.' Catherine muttered looking around her. 'There's a tavern over there go and sit down for a bit.'

Athos looked like he was about to argue but Catherine quickly shot him down.

'I will sort this out,' she gestured to the crowd. 'Now you can either go and sit down willingly or I can drag you in there like a child if you wish it.'

Athos narrowed his eyes at her but Catherine raised her eyebrows in a manner that told him all too well she was willing to make good on that threat.

Seeing defeat in front of him and feeling slightly sick at the pitying stares the crowd were giving him Athos turned on his heel and slouched into the tavern muttering angrily under his breath.

Catherine sighed and picked up the bag of coins and cane which she assumed belonged to Athos.

'Curious.' She thought. 'Why didn't he just take the purse and be done with it?'

Just then a cough distracted her. She looked up to find the munitions man holding out his hand.

'Er that bag is mine,' he said. 'Forty livres for the munitions to be delivered to the musketeers garrison.'

Catherine eyed him and then the basket which still sat on the front of his stall.

'Thirty livres.' She said bluntly.

The man blanched. 'He did a deal with me for forty livres!' He snarled.

'And I'm telling you thirty.' Catherine dealt out thirty livres from the bag and held them out. 'Take it or leave it.'

The man grumbled and growled but took the money and handed Catherine the supplies. 'You can take it then.' he snapped and turned away.

Catherine smiled to herself and carried the basket, cane and purse inside the tavern to which she had sent Athos.

As Catherine looked around she spotted her target slouched in a chair in the tavern's darkest corner and sighed. This was not the way she had initially wanted to talk to him but there was no turning back now. 'Still,' she thought. 'This will probably go easier with something strong to drink.'

After she had purchased two goblets of wine with the remaining money from the purse Catherine managed to haul everything over to the table where Athos was sat.

'Here,' She said setting down the wine and then throwing the cane at him. 'I think this is yours.'

Athos caught the cane and took a swig of the good wine in front of him.

'How did you afford this?' He asked setting the goblet down eying it approvingly.

'With the ten extra livre that I saved you from spending for this lot.' Catherine motioned to the basket of supplies.

Athos scoffed. 'I see you are still as reckless as ever.'

'I see your still as attached to your pride as ever.' Catherine retorted taking a gulp out her own goblet.

They both paused and looked around the tavern. As the adrenaline from the last half an hour began to wear off Catherine found that her stamina was also beginning to waver once more. She took another gulp of wine but breathed at the wrong moment and ended up choking on it.

'You're meant to drink wine.' Athos noted watching her cough with something akin to amusement. Part of him was still glad she was a feisty as ever and the fact that she was here talking to him seemed to lighten his mood even more.

'I am…well…aware…of that…thank…you.' Catherine spluttered between coughs.

Silence descended again, marred only by the occasional cough which Catherine tried to muffle.

'So,' she said eventually trying her best to make the conversation as casual as possible. 'Treville has decided to let you loose again then has he?'

Athos nodded and took another swig. 'Yes I guess he has. Although I doubt he'll do so again now.'

'What he doesn't know won't hurt him.' Catherine replied.

Athos snorted. 'Ha. Today's events will be all over Paris by now I can guarantee that.'

'Well what's a city supposed to live on other than gossip?' Catherine asked rhetorically.

Silence fell again.

'Where you really going to give that man forty livres for that lot?' Catherine prompted again taking another gulp of wine despite already beginning to feel the effects of it. 'I really should have eaten something this morning,' she thought to herself.

'Yes.' Athos said bluntly.

'Haven't you heard of bartering?'

'I have but prefer not too.' Athos shrugged.

'Mournful you. Or should I say mournful Captain Treville and his purse.' Catherine scoffed brushing the dirt off her dress. Athos didn't miss the way she swayed a little as she did.

'She's only had three mouthfuls of wine, she can't be drunk already?' He thought with slight amusement to himself. Then he remembered that Catherine had previously mentioned that she actually didn't drink wine and cursed.

They sat there in silence again for another five minutes in which time Catherine managed to polish off the rest of her goblet of wine.

'Well I'd best be off.' She said swaying as she stood up. 'The Queen sent me to get…now wait what did she send me to get again?' Catherine's brow furrowed.

Athos just managed to refrain himself from laughing.

'Never mind,' she said after a moment. 'I'll figure it out on the way. Its been fun Athos we should do this again sometime.'

'Maybe with less wine.' Athos commented dryly.

'What? Oh no I'm fine.' Catherine brushed off his comment. Unfortunately her determination to leave his presence with dignity for once was somewhat destroyed as she stumbled over her chair and ended up on her knees.

'Maybe you could use some help.' Athos said watching her.

'No, no. I'm fine just need a moment. You rest, you should be resting anyway, why aren't you resting again?' Catherine's face fell slightly.

Athos fixed her with an incredulous stare.

'Never mind I'm leaving.' Catherine turned away and stumbled out of the tavern with a muffled sob.

Athos watched her go looking more confused than ever.

'Maybe I ought to follow her.' He thought and stood up himself.

* * *

'You'd think he'd choose someone with more tolerance for a drink wouldn't you.' D'Artagnan laughed quietly from his watch point at the other side of the tavern.

'At least they're talking.' Porthos guffawed.

'Shame on you both.' Aramis said shaking his head.

'Oh come on you have to admit that was funny.' D'Artagnan said.

Porthos was struggling to withhold his laughter.

'You didn't think it was so funny when she kicked you earlier.' Aramis reminded his brother. Porthos' winced.

'That hurt.' He agreed.

'Well at least you're even now.' D'Artagnan grinned.

Porthos grunted.

'Gentlemen.' Aramis said holding up his goblet. 'To a job well done.'


	19. Chapter 19 - Rekindled

Chapter 19 - Rekindled.

Hello everyone, my apologies for not updating recently but I have been abroad for the last 14 days and did not take my laptop with me. I hope you all enjoy this chapter it is short but hopefully powerful. I own none of the characters with the exception of the OC.

As it turned out Catherine had entirely forgotten what the Queen had originally sent her to the market for and ended up swaying her way back to the palace empty handed with a heavy heart. Although she was sober enough to realise that there would be a consequence to pay for not only turning up empty handed but also somewhat inebriated, Catherine was somewhat uncertain as to whether this was something she was actively seeking. While Catherine just about managed to ignore the strange stares of the passing Parisians, as she stumbled through the streets, she remained unable to ignore Athos' presence as he followed her. Had she have had slightly more control of herself Catherine would have turned around and sternly told him that although she was a girl she did not need to be chaperoned back to the palace. Unfortunately the alcohol had made her feel ever more volatile emotionally and every time Catherine felt she had the courage to turn round and fend him off, the sorrow for what she had done to him simply blocked her.

As the palace gate came back into sight Catherine silently hoped that Athos would now back off and let her be. Her hopes went unfounded and as her feet finally seemed to give up picking themselves off the ground properly, Catherine tripped over her skirts and crashed onto her hands and knees. The temptation to bury her head in the dirt at the side of the gravel was too much to avoid. As the gravel crunched beside her Catherine curled in on herself in a heap.

'You and wine are clearly not a good mix.' Athos drawled from somewhere above her.

Catherine wanted to reply but didn't know what to say and thus remained silent.

'You know you do make a much less impressive spectacle on the floor like that.' Athos tried again. If he was hoping to get some response he was to be disappointed as Catherine remained where she was and silent.

'You can't stay down there all day, the Queen would not approve.'

Catherine's jaw clenched.

'And I don't particularly feel up to digging you out of yet another hole.' Athos continued dryly.

'Then why don't you leave?' Catherine bluntly asked the floor.

Athos stared at her and just for a moment he seriously considered doing what she asked. While he acknowledged the hypocrisy within it Athos was tired of inconsistency and also petty self pity.

'I seem to be asking myself that same question a lot recently.' He replied after a moment.

When Catherine chose neither to move nor reply Athos sighed audibly and in one smooth movement he bent down and dragged the woman to her feet.

'Your attitude leaves a lot to be desired.' He muttered dusting her down.

'I'll consider the recommendation.' Catherine said plainly without looking at him. She already felt guilty and humiliated without adding further insult to injury.

'Any injuries?' Athos asked.

'No.' Catherine shook her head.

'Then why is your hand bleeding?'

Catherine looked down mildly surprised to see a deep cut in the palm of her hand. Catherine momentarily considered ripping a strip of her dress to cover the wound but then decided against it, after all she didn't particularly have a large wardrobe of dresses spare. Her lack of action didn't appear to satisfy Athos who, upon seeing that Catherine was plainly going to do nothing about it, unsheathed his dagger and cut a strip of cloth from the base of her dress. Then, trapping Catherine's hand with his own, he gently bandaged the cut.

'That should do the trick for now.'

'Thanks.' Catherine muttered dryly. Athos raised an eyebrow.

'You don't sound very grateful.'

'I'm speaking on behalf of my purse which now needs to provide for another dress.' Catherine said flatly looking at the tear in her skirt.

Athos looked like he was about to explode and scold her angrily but thankfully he just managed to hold his tongue.

'Come on,' he snapped turning on his heel. 'Let's see if we can get you into the palace without another incident.'

Catherine watched him stalk off to the gates but didn't follow. 'What am I doing?' she thought silently to herself. 'I like him but I should not. I want to be with him but I cannot. I want to tell him I am sorry, but I do not know how. I want to tell him I love him but…'

'Are you coming? Or are you going to stand there for the rest of your life hmmm?' Athos asked coldly from up ahead. His back was aching and he was rapidly losing what little patience he had left.

While the blank expression on Catherine's features seemingly indicated that she had not heard him, her body moved automatically into a walk at his words. As she walked past him she stopped and turned to meet Athos' impatient glare.

'I'm sorry…for everything.'

That was all that she said before she turned and walked through the gate leaving Athos to watch her go feeling stunned.

* * *

Catherine did not recall how she got back to her room. One moment she was stood outside staring at Athos, the next she had changed her dress and was bathing her cut hand in the wash basin. The initial flash of pain as the water met the cut flesh brought her out of the reverie in which she had been comfortably settled.

She watched the water turn red gradually and felt a slight sense of warmth rush over her.

'Well at least I apologised to him.' She thought as she rewrapped her hand in a fresh sheet of muslin.

A knock at the door cut through her thoughts. 'Constance of course,' she muttered and went to open the door.

It was not Constance stood behind the door, but Athos.

'May I come in?'

Catherine stepped back to allow him in and closed the door quietly.

'You should not be here.' She said quietly fixing Athos with the most imperceptible gaze she could muster. 'Its not permitted for ladies to receive men in their quarters unattended. People will talk.'

Athos said nothing for a moment but gazed at the woman in front of him intently. After a moment he perched down on the edge of her bed and set his hat at his side.

'You apologised to me. Why?' He asked.

Catherine maintained an unreadable expression. 'My recklessness resulted in your injury.' she said, her voice almost devoid of emotion. 'People are supposed to apologise to those that they hurt.'

It was to all extents and purposes a proper response but Athos refused to buy it.

'Indeed they are but that is not the only reason is it?'

'What other reason would I have?'

Athos narrowed his eyes. 'Do you really want to continue to dance around the obvious?' He asked.

'I am not aware that I am doing any such thing.' Catherine replied folding her hands in a rare display of gracefulness.

Athos sighed. 'I am tired of this childishness Catherine and I have had enough of playing whatever little game you think you are playing. So I will remain here until you tell me exactly what you want from me.'

'If I tire you so much then perhaps you should leave and get some rest.' Catherine replied.

Athos glared at her for a few seconds and then promptly unhooked his pistol and sword belt and set them down beside his hat.

Catherine stared at the adornments. 'What do you want me to say?' She asked flatly.

'We could start with whatever is going on inside that head of yours.'

'At the moment that mostly consists of my amazement at your apparent persistence to maintain this stupidity.' Catherine said coldly.

'Stupidity?' Athos motioned for her to continue.

'You wanted me to absolve you of your dishonourable actions after our first meeting, I have done so and publicly at that. You have chided me for my rash attitude and actions, so now I act and speak to you in the manner befitting a lady in waiting to the Queen of France. Finally you have informed me that my presence tires you and yet here you sit refusing to retire and rest.'

Athos paused as Catherine ceased her elegant speech.

'Well that's a start.' He said.

'I do not think there is much else for us to say to one another.' Catherine replied fighting to retain her unreadable countenance.

'Really? I beg to differ.' Athos smirked a little.

'What else is there to discuss?' Catherine asked.

'I protected you from a group of bandits determined to rob you when we first met. I looked after you when I found you were unconscious on the floor outside.' Athos' voice grew ever softer as he continued. 'I took thirty lashes to protect you, after you endangered both yourself and your _friend_ to come and hunt for me, and just now I ensured that a group of men, who seemed set on taking advantage of a girl who yet again was not paying attention to where she was going, did not succeed in their plans.' A tremor passed through Catherine's body as Athos reeled off the last one. How had she failed to notice that?

'And yet the only thing you can think of,' Athos continued voice so low it was almost undetectable, 'is to insult me when I demand to know exactly how you feel about me.' He moved to stand dead in front of Catherine, his azure blue eyes locked down on her green ones with such intensity it rendered Catherine unable to look away. 'Tell me,' he murmured. 'How exactly do you think that makes me feel?'

Hurt? Angry? Betrayed? Catherine reeled off the words in her head unable to break away and unable to speak.

'I said I am sorry.' She managed to whisper eventually, her eyes still locked on his.

Athos leaned in closer.

'Sorry for what?' He spoke so low that it was almost as if it was nothing more than a loud thought. The intensity between them made the whole world in that moment appear irrelevant.

'For tearing you apart, for making you suffer, for being…' Catherine struggled her voice barely above a whisper. 'For being in love with you.'

The few seconds that passed, in which their eyes remained locked tightly, seemed to last an eternity before Athos finally leaned down and put his lips to Catherine's passionately.


End file.
